The NCAA News - News and Features

August 17, 1998

Football governance group studies promotion

Marketing effort to aim at future direction of Division I-AA football

The Division I-AA Football Governance Committee reviewed the status of a recommendation to initiate a marketing study for Division I-AA football and the status of efforts to promote Division I-AA football as a part of the overall marketing effort concerning college football during its July 26 meeting in Philadelphia.

The committee reviewed a report from the Division I Business/Finance Cabinet regarding the establishment of a group to identify the key issues and future direction related to Division I-AA football.

The committee expressed concern that the Division I-AA Football Championship no longer provides net revenue to the Association and noted that the situation needs to be addressed in a timely fashion.

The group appointed two members to meet with the Division I Marketing Committee regarding the key issues.

The committee also discussed issues regarding the promotion of Division I-AA football, particularly NCAA Football promotional efforts, with representatives from Host Communications, Inc.

The committee encouraged the Host representatives to communicate directly with Division I-AA conference offices to assist in determining whether Division I-AA institutions could offer sites that sometimes may best serve the interests of NCAA Football promotions.

The committee also reviewed several legislative proposals related to Division I-AA football, including a waiver process to address unique or catastrophic situations when a Division I-AA institution is unable to average 60 financial aid awards during the three preceding academic years.

The Management Council subsequently approved the proposal (No. 98-80) and forwarded it to the Board of Directors for adoption.

A proposal regarding automatic qualification to the Division I-AA Football Championship (Proposal No. 98-84) was referred by the committee to the Championships/Competition Cabinet and the Division I-AA Football Committee. The committee requested that a detailed explanation regarding why legislation is needed at this time and a more detailed rationale statement be provided.

The committee gave initial approval to Proposal No. 98-39, which would permit simultaneous telecasting or cablecasting of regular-season Division I-AA intercollegiate football games on Friday nights after 7 p.m.

In other actions, the committee considered a motion to recommend that the Management Council support a request to appoint a student-athlete representative from the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee as a nonvoting liaison to the Division I Football Issues Committee.

The committee defeated the motion; however, the Management Council determined that a representative of the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee should be appointed as a nonvoting liaison to the Championships/Competition Cabinet, which has oversight authority over all Division I sports committees, including the Football Issues Committee.