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The NCAA News - News and FeaturesThe NCAA News -- July 19, 1999 Cabinet sets priorities for funding expansions
Plan would protect bracket growthThe Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet has developed a proposal to fund bracket expansion in five sports and to establish an officiating-improvement program in women's softball without surpassing the budget for championships initiatives tentatively allocated to it by the Division I Budget Subcommittee. Meeting July 6-8 in Chicago, the cabinet was challenged to prioritize initiatives for 1999-00 to fit budget allocations that already were earmarked largely for a championships-enhancement program. Those enhancements, ranging from funds to supplement host institutions' fund-raising efforts to underwriting such activities as team banquets and mementos, take up $550,000 of the $800,000 the Division I Budget Subcommittee had allotted for the coming year. The $800,000 total was determined by the budget subcommittee in its preliminary planning after a review of the 1999-00 Division I budget and after the cabinet had asked the Division I Management Council and the Division I Board of Directors to support funding for various initiatives, which included bracket expansion and the creation of the officiating-improvement program in women's softball. Those initiatives, in addition to the championships enhancements, exceeded the $800,000 allotted. Though the Council and the Board both voiced their support of the initiatives, the Board charged the cabinet to prioritize its requests in light of the new budget allocations. After review during its meeting, the cabinet reaffirmed its commitment of $550,000 to the championships-enhancement program and voted that the remaining $250,000 be allocated to fund the following initiatives:
The cabinet also had previously requested funding for expansion of the Division I Men's Soccer Championship from 32 to 48 teams (at an estimated cost of $180,000) and for the establishment of a women's softball officiating-improvement program ($50,000). In light of the new allocations, however, the cabinet determined agreed to fund the above six initiatives and recommend alternative ways to fund the latter two. Those recommendations are that the establishment of the women's softball officiating-improvement program be considered an Association-wide expense, and that the current budgets for existing officiating-improvement programs for baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's ice hockey, men's lacrosse and wrestling (an additional total of approximately $530,000) be considered Association-wide expenses. The cabinet reasoned that because the programs include officials and benefit championships in all three divisions, those monies should be allocated as Association-wide expenses. The cabinet proposed that the resulting savings to the Division I allocation would be used to fund the expansion of the Division I Men's Soccer Championship. The recommendations will be reviewed by the Management Council at its July 26-27 meeting in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Championships labeling The Championships/Competition Cabinet was one of several NCAA groups charged with reviewing promotional labeling of NCAA championships to determine if the brands currently used to identify championships should be gender-specific. The topic of gender-specific identification was raised in part by media scrutiny over the use of "Final Four" and "Women's Final Four." A proposal developed by an NCAA national office subcommittee of the NCAA President's Advisory Team would modify all current championships promotional brands to be gender specific and make mandatory the use of "NCAA" within any trademarks. The cabinet approved the proposal, which would charge the Association's marketing, licensing and promotions group and championships group to address the specific internal steps required for developing future promotional monikers. Suggested trademark names would then be forwarded to the marketing committee of the Division I Business/Finance Cabinet (or a marketing subcommittee if the Business/Finance Cabinet is dissolved) for comment. If approved there, the recommendation would be forwarded to the Championships/Competition Cabinet for comment. All approved recommendations by those two bodies would be reported to the Management Council. The cabinet noted that the current championships that use a promotional label are the Final Four, Women's Final Four, Elite Eight (Division II men's basketball finals), Women's Elite Eight (Division II women's basketball finals), College World Series, Women's College World Series, Men's College Cup (Division I men's soccer finals), Women's College Cup (Division I women's soccer finals) and Frozen Four (Division I men's ice hockey finals). Under this proposal, all of the brands would be trademarked specifically as "Men's" or "Women's." In a related matter, the cabinet also was asked to provide input to the Management Council and Board of Directors regarding a gender and diversity audit conducted by the NCAA Ad Hoc Committee to Review Diversity Issues. Among the ad hoc committee recommendations was a method of increasing opportunities for women by putting selected emerging sports on a "fast track" to become an NCAA championship (ice hockey, currently sponsored by 40 institutions; water polo, 37; squash, 27, and bowling, 21). The cabinet noted that the Management Council already had proposed legislation to amend Bylaw 18.2.4.2.1 to reduce from two years to one the waiting period required to establish a championship in a new women's sport once the minimum sponsorship numbers were met. Therefore, the cabinet voted to ask the Management Council to proposed legislation to establish a National Collegiate Women's Ice Hockey Championship and National Collegiate Women's Water Polo Championship, effective with the 2000-01 academic year, with approval of the latter championship contingent upon the sport of water polo meeting the minimum sponsorship requirement of 40 institutions before consideration of such legislation by the Division I Board of Directors; and that the Management Council propose legislation to establish sports committees for the respective championships. In addition, the cabinet noted that it had already recommended the establishment of an officiating-improvement program for women's softball and that the NCAA staff is in the process of compiling information about the number of female and minority officials assigned to NCAA championships competition, which the cabinet will review when it becomes available. Lacrosse issues The cabinet addressed several issues pertaining to men's and women's lacrosse, including automatic qualification. In men's lacrosse, the cabinet voted to award automatic qualification to a maximum of four conferences, yet to be determined based on the computerized rating-percentage index for the 2000 and 2001 championships. The cabinet also determined that effective with the 2002 championship, all eligible conferences be provided access to the championship by either automatic qualification or play-in games. In women's lacrosse, the cabinet directed the Women's Lacrosse Committee to award automatic qualification to the Ivy Group and the Colonial Athletic Association into the 2000 National Collegiate Women's Lacrosse Championship; and directed the committee to present to the cabinet, for review at its February 2000 meeting, a plan for expanding the number of automatic qualifiers. Also pertaining to women's lacrosse, the cabinet will ask the Management Council to propose legislation to establish a separate Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship (for which Division II institutions would not be eligible, as they currently are), effective with the 2001 championship. In a related matter, the cabinet voted to eliminate the guaranteed berth for a Division II institution into the championship, effective with the 2000 championship. The cabinet also agreed to ask the Management Council to propose legislation to exempt men's and women's lacrosse from the minimum sponsorship requirements. The cabinet reviewed current sponsorship figures for Division I men's lacrosse (52 institutions), Division I women's lacrosse (66), Division II men's (31) and Division II women's (23) and noted that at the 1999 NCAA Convention, the Division II membership adopted an amendment to Bylaw 18.2.10 that would create a protected status for a National Collegiate Championship or a division championship in the sport of men's and women's lacrosse by specifying that those sports are exempt from the minimum sponsorship requirements (50 institutions) for continuation of a championship. A similar proposal had been adopted by the membership at the 1997 Convention for Olympic sports.
Other highlights
Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet
2003 Women's Final Four -- Georgia Dome, Atlanta (Georgia Institute of Technology, host). 2004 Women's Final Four -- New Orleans Sports Arena, New Orleans (Tulane University, host). 2000 Women's Golf Regionals -- Ohio State University (East) and Arizona State University (West). 2001 National Collegiate Women's Gymnastics Championships -- University of Georgia. 2000 Men's Lacrosse First Rounds -- Hobart College (North region); University of Maryland, Baltimore County (South region). 2000 Men's Lacrosse Quarterfinals -- Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick (North region); Johns Hopkins University (South region). 1999 Men's and Women's Cross Country Regionals -- Indiana State University (Great Lakes); Furman University (Southeast); University of Colorado, Boulder (Mountain); University of Illinois, Champaign (Midwest); Boston University (Northeast); University of Portland (West); and University of North Texas (South Central). 2002 Women's Volleyball Championship -- New Orleans Sports Arena, New Orleans (University of New Orleans and the Sun Belt Conference, co-hosts). 2003 Women's Volleyball Championship -- Reunion Arena, Dallas, (Big 12 Conference, host). 2004 Women's Volleyball Championship -- Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, California (California State University, Long Beach, host).
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