The NCAA News - News and Features
The NCAA News -- November 9, 1998
Divisions I and II presidents take action on financial issues
Division I: Funds reallocated to cover championships enhancements
ATLANTA -- The NCAA Executive Committee during its October 28 meeting approved an action by the Division I Board of Directors to reallocate Division I funds to cover 1998-99 championships enhancement expenses.
The reallocation of funds is intended to defray costs not covered in the NCAA-funded game expenses, not provided by corporate partners (for many championships) and for which host institutions have difficulty raising money locally because of the exclusivity restrictions of the NCAA corporate partners agreement.
The Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet and the Division I Management Council had expressed concern that the approved budget for 1998-99 does not include adequate funding for those costs and had asked that sufficient funds be reallocated in the 1998-99 budget to cover the remaining championships expenses.
The Board of Directors, meeting October 27, reallocated funds from Division I 1997-98 fiscal year-end money to cover such expenses for this year's championships.
Such expenses for future years will be considered by a new Division I Budget Subcommittee during the regular budget process. The Executive Committee approved the the creation of the subcommittee that will be composed of five members of the Board and five members of the Management Council, with three Division I-A representatives, and one I-AA representative and one I-AAA represenative from each group.
The subcommittee will be chaired by V. Lane Rawlins, president of the University of Memphis and a member of the Board, and will be charged with preparing recommendations for future Division I budgets.
Additional budget issues
The Executive Committee also reviewed the following set of proposed budget parameters that could be used to aid the new subcommittee in developing the Association's 1999-2000 budget:
Constitutional guarantees will be honored.
Programmatic increases, including championship bracket expansion, should be funded by reallocations.
Total Association-wide expenses will remain flat other than uncontrollable increases.
Association-wide programmatic budgets will be reviewed in detail over the next several months by the budget subcommittee.
Revenue enhancements that align with the Association's mission and strategic goals will be supported.
The committee also developed a set of proposed revisions to the Association's budget process that specify various tasks to be accomplished during the annual budget cycle.
Both the proposed budget parameters and the timeline were submitted as informational items and will not be acted upon until January.
Also introduced during the Executive Committee meeting was a series of potential cost-savings initiatives, including a review of committee travel policies and expenses.
The expenditure savings proposal also included a cost/benefit analysis of owning the NCAA aircraft, the elimination of one governance structure meeting, and the use of technology to provide digital publications while reducing the number of printed publications.
Feedback will be sought from member conferences before the Management Councils and presidential groups in all three divisions, as well as the Executive Committee, review the proposals in January.
In other actions, the Executive Committee:
Determined that a legislative proposal before the Division II presidents regarding membership eligibility for international institutions failed to address a constitutional requirement affecting all three divisions. It was agreed that the matter would be reviewed at a future meeting.
Noted that the NCAA had contracted with William F. Mercer, Inc., a national human resources consulting firm, to develop a formal process to evaluate the NCAA president.
Board actions
The Board of Directors during a review of alternative methods for funding expenses related to the restricted earnings coaches case reached an agreement regarding a portion of the previously scheduled revenue distribution for 1999.
The Board agreed to put into escrow an expected $10 million revenue distribution that previously was set aside by the Board and the Executive Committee. Each Division I institution will be credited toward its share of the ultimate payment of damages in the case in the amount that would have been received if the distribution had been made to conferences and institutions as scheduled.
The action was taken during a review of principles that had been submitted by the Management Council. One of the Council's principles was to release the distribution this fiscal year to help colleges and universities meet budgeted priorities.
"Given the uncertainty of what any ultimate payment might be in this case, the Board considered it imprudent to distribute the $10 million requested," said Graham B. Spanier, chair of the Board and president of Pennsylvania State University. "However, the Board feels that it is important to reserve those funds for the Division I membership against any final disposition in the case."
The remaining four principles that emerged from the Management Council's preliminary discussion of the matter will be considered by the budget subcommittee. Those principles and possible funding alternatives developed by the subcommittee will be evaluated by the Division I Management Council and the Board of Directors.
Regarding proposed legislation, The Board approved the following proposals that had received second approval from the Management Council:
No. 98-16, which allows no more than four student-athletes to participate at any one time in skill-related instruction outside the playing season during the academic year (effective immediately).
No. 98-18, which allows women's rowing teams to travel up to 200 miles, if outside the institution's state, to practice when necessitated by weather conditions (effective immediately).
No. 98-19, which specifies that the Division I Women's Basketball Committee include two members from each region and one at-large member (effective August 1, 1999).
No. 98-22, which precludes schools from conducting preseason, publicized practices off-campus (effective August 1, 1999).
No. 98-24, which would permit an institution to exempt informal practice scrimmages from the maximum contest limitations in basketball (effective August 1, 1999).
No. 98-25, which would provide for the sport of wrestling an annual exemption for the National Wrestling Coaches Association all-star meet (effective August 1, 1999).
Proposal No. 98-98, which is intended to allow Division I institutions more flexibility to meet minimum financial aid for membership requirements (effective August 1, 1999).
Proposal No. 98-99, which would require Division I conferences to establish a conference student-athlete advisory committee (effective August 1, 1999).
Proposal No. 98-100, which deletes for specified committees the requirement that no subdivision of Division I shall have more than 50 percent representation and to establish other subdivision representation requirements (effective immediately).
Also approved were the following administrative and executive regulations that were forwarded from the Management Council:
Proposal No. 98-84, which specifies that in order to be eligible for automatic qualification, a Division I-AA football conference that subdivides into five or more teams must conduct a single round-robin competition with each subdivision and develop a formula to determine its conference champion (effective immediately).
Proposal No. 98-123, which in Division I sports other than football prohibits sponsors from requiring participating institutions to make deposits or payments before the dates of competition in excess of $2,500. The legislation also would preclude sponsors of such events from charging a late fee for a deposit not timely received. This proposal was approved pending confirmation from legal counsel that the restriction regarding late fees is not in conflict with laws in certain states.
Proposal No. 98-124, which increases the basic accident-medical insurance for participating student-athletes in college football and basketball all-star games and postseason bowl games to an amount equal to the deductible of the current NCAA catastrophic-injury insurance policy (effective immediately).
No. 98-125, which in Division I sports other than football deletes the requirement that the member institution managing the event also must compete in the event (effective immediately).
No. 98-126, which in Division I sports other than football and basketball requires sponsors of exempted contests to pay a fee of $100 upon receipt of certification of the event (effective immediately).
No. 98-127, which requires the sponsoring agency of an exempted basketball event to pay a fee upon receipt of the certification of the event, as specified (effective immediately).
No. 98-128, which permits the Championships/Competition Cabinet to certify an exempted event for a two-year period, according to specified requirements (effective immediately).
No. 98-129, which permits member schools in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands that have a classified sport in Division I to use the contest exemption legislation set forth in NCAA Bylaw 30.10 (effective immediately).
No. 98-130, which increases the expense guarantees for men's and women's basketball events, as specified (effective immediately).
Other highlights
Division I Board of Directors
October 27/Atlanta
Received a report regarding a Management Council discussion of initial-eligibility standards and an update from the research staff on the effects of current initial-eligibility requirements. The Board agreed that the Management Council should direct the Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet and its Initial-Eligibility Subcommittee to continue their review of the data and forward any recommendations that would optimize graduation rates for Division I student-athletes, while examining the impact on ethnic minorities and low-income prospects.
Approved a request from the Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports to reallocate $80,000 in the drug-testing program to fund the NCAA's share (matching the $80,000 from the National Football League) of the cost of purchasing enhanced testing equipment to assist in the detection of steroid use.
Tabled a proposal to amend the Association's nondiscrimination statement until the Board's January meeting and noted that any change to the principle would require a two-thirds majority vote of the total membership in all three divisions (present and voting) no earlier than the 2000 Convention.
Approved the following selections and reselections for Board positions that will become available in January 1999: Kenneth A. Shaw, chancellor of Syracuse University; Carol Cartwright, president of Kent State University; Milton Gordon, president of California State University, Fullerton; David B. Frohnmayer, president of the University of Oregon; Harold T. Shapiro, president of Princeton University; and Claire Van Ummerson, president of Cleveland State University.
Approved the following selections and reselections for Management Council positions that will become available in January 1999: Arthur W. Cooper, North Carolina State University; Percy Bates, University of Michigan; Angela D. Taylor, University of Nevada; Rudy Washington, Southwestern Athletic Conference; Rick Mello, University of Arkansas, Little Rock; and Lynda Tealer, Santa Clara University; Patricia Thomas, Georgetown University; Gerald Lage, Oklahoma State University; Richard J. Ensor, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference; and Thomas N. Hickman, Winthrop University.
|
