National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News Digest

June 22, 1998


DIVISION I FOOTBALL

Subcommittee recommends ending preseason football games

The NCAA Football Certification Subcommit-tee has recommended to the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet that exempted preseason football games be abolished after the 2002-03 academic year.

The recommendation is a product of discussions regarding whether the purpose for the games has changed from when the first contest was established in 1983. Also integral in the discussions was the way teams were selected to participate in the events, including inconsistencies in the application of a rule prohibiting more than one team from a conference to participate in a given year.

Those discussions triggered the subcommittee's consideration of whether the exempted contests were in fact meeting their intended goals. The targeted date of 2002-03 coincides with when the television contract established by the National Association of College Directors of Athletics (NACDA), which sponsors the Pigskin and Kickoff Classics, expires.

Staff contact: Mark P. Jones.

BASKETBALL

More than 28 million attend NCAA men's games

The total number of people attending NCAA basketball games increased to more than 28 million in the 1997-98 season.

A total of 23,282,774 spectators attended Division I games, an increase of 91,918 over last year.

It was the 10th consecutive year that Divis-ion I attendance topped the 23-million mark. In 1992, a record 23,893,993 Division I fans attended men's games.

Additional factors in this year's increase were larger arenas used during the NCAA tournament and more home games because of fewer neutral-site games.

For all three divisions, a total of 30 new NCAA institutions helped increase total attendance to a total of 28,031,879 fans, up 293,595 over last season.

With the help of its first postseason tournament, the Big Ten Conference set a new standard for conference attendance as 2,166,264 fans paraded through the turnstiles during the 1998 season for a 12,450 per-game average.

Staff contact: Gary K. Johnson.

DIVERSITY

NCAA to offer diversity training on a regional basis

Three regional diversity education seminars will be offered by the NCAA this summer in an effort to increase access and convenience for NCAA members.

This is the first time that regional diversity training has been made available to member institutions.

The seminars are sponsored by the NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee and the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics. There will be no charge to attend.

The seminars will be held July 15-16 in Indianapolis; July 29-30 in Charlotte, North Carolina; and August 17-18 in San Jose, California.

Reservations for all the sessions are due July 1. Participants are responsible for securing their own hotel arrangements. Each session will accommodate 40 participants.

The intended audience is athletics directors, although other university personnel would be welcome as well.

Featured speakers include Harvey J. Coleman, president and founder of Coleman Management Consultants and Ray C. Myers, senior consultant with the Spellman and Johnson Group.

Staff contact: Donnetta Moorman.

LEGISLATION

Deadline near for legislation for Divisions II and III

The July 15 deadline is approaching for Divisions II and III institutions and conferences to submit legislative proposals for the Association's 1999 Convention.

In Division II, members are reminded of the amendment procedures set forth in NCAA Constitution 5.3. In particular, the minimum number of active member institutions required to sponsor an amendment not sponsored by the NCAA Division II Presidents Council is 15.

In Division III, members are reminded of the amendment procedures set forth in Constitution 5.3. A minimum of eight active member institutions are required to sponsor an amendment not sponsored by the NCAA Division III Presidents Council.

Staff contact: Stephen A. Mallonee.

DIVISION I

Financial aid panel sends proposals to Management Council

A set of recommendations from the Division I Financial Aid Committee will be considered by the Division I Management Council at its July 27-29 meeting in Philadelphia.

The committee has developed several different legislative proposals so that the division may consider various alternatives. The package includes 13 recommendations. The proposals are designed to be considered individually rather than as a collective recommendation.

Among the items to be considered is a proposal to reduce the number of counters in football (from 85 to 75) or to place an annual limit of 75 on the number of equivalency financial aid awards to counters while placing an annual limit of 95 on the total number of counters, who could receive a partial or a full award.

Staff contact: Lynn M. Holzman.