The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- February 15, 1999

Cabinet approves shift in Division I baseball season

The Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet has approved a proposal that would move the start of the Division I Baseball Championship, effective in 2001.

The proposal, subject to Management Council approval, would shift the season by one week. The new formula would provide for the regionals to start the first Friday after Memorial Day with the super regionals to be played the following weekend. The College World Series would begin on the third Friday after Memorial Day. In 2001, those dates are June 1-3, June 8-10 and June 15-23.

The recommendation, formulated during the cabinet's February 3-4 meeting in Chicago, is designed to reduce the competitive gap between teams located in the inclement weather areas and those located in warmer climates. The proposal also would provide conferences and institutions more flexibility to establish their starting and ending dates for the regular season.

The Division I Baseball Committee had requested a two-week shift in the season, but the cabinet expressed concerns regarding increased costs for schools keeping student-athletes on campus after the completion of the academic year. The cabinet also was concerned about the likelihood of missed class time for those student-athletes participating in summer school if the season were to be moved two weeks later.

The cabinet's proposal will be forwarded to the Management Council in April.

The cabinet also approved proposals for bracket expansion in five sports, including three women's sports. The proposals, which will be forwarded to the Management Council for consideration, include adding women's sabre as an event in the National Collegiate Men's and Women's Fencing Championships. The event would add 24 female participants to the championships field.

In women's golf, the field sizes for each of the two regionals would increase from 102 participants to 126, with 126 participants advancing to the championship finals (up from 99). In men's golf, all eligible conferences would be awarded automatic qualification into the regionals, which would increase the number of competitors selected from 324 to 423. The number of teams and individuals advancing to the men's finals would remain the same.

Team sports affected by the proposed expansion would be field hockey (from 12 to 16 teams) and men's soccer (from 32 to 48 teams).

If approved, the new brackets and field sizes would become effective for the 1999-2000 playing season.

The cabinet also approved a proposal that would establish predetermined sites for the first- and second-round sessions for the 2000 Division I Women's Basketball Championship.

If approved by the Management Council and Executive Committee, sites for the 2000 championship would be selected in October 1999; sites for subsequent championships would be selected in the same cycle as regional tournaments.

Automatic qualification

The cabinet also acted on issues regarding automatic qualification, which included the cabinet issuing a reaffirmation of NCAA Bylaw 31.3.4.6, which stipulates that at least 50 percent of all tournament brackets (except football) must be filled by automatic qualifiers if an adequate number of conferences meet the eligibility requirements.

The Division I Men's Basketball Committee had asked for an amendment to the bylaw that would have limited the number of automatic qualifiers to the 30 highest-rated conferences based on the previous year's rating-percentage index (RPI). The committee noted that the issue would be moot for the 1999 championship, but that the number of eligible conferences could increase to 31 for the 2000 championship.

The cabinet did not support the proposal, noting that awarding all eligible conferences automatic qualification would eliminate the need for play-in games (until such time as the number exceeded 32) and that it favored access to the tournament for all eligible conferences.

The cabinet also discussed the application of a bylaw that withdraws a conference's eligibility for automatic qualification if the conference champion declines to compete for any reason.

At issue is the new legislation (Proposal No. 98-32) that requires a sports committee to adjust its championship schedule to accommodate an institution participating in the championship that has a written policy against competing on a particular day for religious reasons. Part of that legislation, which was adopted in October and is in effect for 1998-99 championships, is a waiver process for a sports committee to request relief from the rule if it believes such accommodation would unduly disrupt the administration of the championship.

The cabinet received nine requests from sports committees for waivers of the legislation, but denied those requests for this year. The cabinet did, however, discuss the possibility of an amendment to the legislation that would provide an exception to a conference's automatic qualification being withdrawn due to that conference's champion being unable to compete based on religious reasons.

The cabinet, which will ask the Management Council to consider proposing the amendment, believes it would be in a better position to grant future waiver requests if such an exception were in place.

Emerging sports

In other actions, the cabinet considered the status of various emerging women's sports that are nearing the minimum sponsorship required for the proposal of legislation to establish championships in a new women's sport (40).

The cabinet will recommend that the Management Council propose legislation to amend the current two-year period for sports to maintain at least 40 sponsors to a one-year period in order to expedite the establishment of new women's championships.

Current emerging sports at or near the minimum sponsorship include women's ice hockey (40) and women's water polo (37). Others include women's squash (27) and women's bowling (21).