The NCAA News - News and Features

July 20, 1998

Management Councils face major decisions

Division II: Revenue distribution to be discussed

The ongoing discussion about how to distribute the Division II enhancement fund will reach an important point during the summer meetings of the Division II Management Council and the Division II Presidents Council.

The fund is a $3 million expense from Division II's allocation of the Association's operating revenue. Currently, half of that money is distributed equally to the Division II membership and the other half is distributed to Division II conferences based on performance in the Division II Men's Basketball Championship.

When the Management Council meets July 27-29 in Philadelphia, it will consider a recommendation from the Division II Budget Committee to alter the formula by distributing $2 million equally to the membership and distributing the remaining $1 million to conferences based on performance in the Division II men's and women's basketball championships. The Presidents Council will consider the same recommendation at its August 11 meeting in Chicago. The Presidents Council also will consider the Management Council's reaction to the recommendation.

The Division II membership was surveyed last summer about the distribution of the fund. The survey was structured in a way so that it measured reaction to each of six different distribution proposals (that is, members noted the degree of their acceptance or resistance to each of the proposals on a scale of one to six). The survey, however, did not ask for respondents to compare one proposal to another.

For that reason, some sentiment exists in Division II for additional research to provide better guidance on how the money should be distributed.

However, at its July 2 meeting, members of the Division II Budget and Finance Committee expressed their belief that it is important to make a recommendation now for consideration by the primary governing bodies within Division II (as opposed to conducting another survey at this time). Its $2 million/$1 million recommendation was sent concurrently to the Management Council and Presidents Council.

The Budget and Finance Committee also sent a description of another model to the Management and Presidents Councils. Although the budget committee did not unanimously endorse the alternate proposal, it thought that it should be discussed by both groups. It would distribute $1.5 million equally to Division II members, distribute $750,000 to conferences based on performance in the men's and women's basketball championships, and would distribute the remaining $750,000 to conferences based on the number of conference champions that each conference recognizes in NCAA sports. Such champions could be determined either through conference tournaments or through round-robin competition in the regular season.

Membership

The Management Council also will consider recommendations from the Division II Membership Committee. A total of 21 institutions are in the final year of a three-year provisional membership period and are eligible to be approved for active membership in Division II. The Management Council also will consider the progress of two other institutions that have completed their second year of provisional membership.

In addition, 26 other institutions have applied for membership in Division II. If accepted, those institutions would be subject to the four-year provisional membership period that was established after the end of the NCAA membership moratorium.

Other business

The Management Council also will consider legislation proposed by the membership for the 1999 NCAA Convention in San Antonio. Division II membership proposals apparently will be few in number for the second consecutive year.

The Management Council also will consider a report from the Division II Project Team to Review Issues Related to Diversity. During its June 22 telephone conference, that group noted the recent report of the NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee that revealed that Division II is the only division with a percentage decline in African-American administrators and men's and women's sports teams head coaches in recent years. With that in mind, the project team has drafted a resolution "that Division II institutions confirm their commitment to the principle of diversity of representation, that attention be focused on enhancing ethnic representation within the governance structures of Division II conferences and that the Division II Project Team to Review Issues Related to Diversity look for innovative ways to assist Division II institutions in enhancing diversity of representation on their campuses."

The project team also has forwarded four legislative options to the Management and Presidents Councils that attempt to assure diversity of representation in the Division II governance structure. Division II is the only division without specific diversity requirements for its governing bodies.

The Management Council also will elect a new chair, who will take office upon adjournment of the 1999 NCAA Convention.