Sports sponsorship: Alabama State University has filed a declaration of intent with the NCAA to move its football program from Division I-AA to Division I-A. The Alabama State Board of Trustees voted May 12 in favor of the move. "It's an opportunity that every black person can be proud of," said Catherine Wright, chair of the board, referring to the school's becoming the first historically black college in the nation to sponsor Division I-A football. The proposal calls for the construction of a 40,000-seat state-of-the-art football stadium and fieldhouse and for development of the National Black Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. Officials said the school will finance the project through the sale of naming rights on the football stadium complex and the museum. The budget is $92 million -- $60 million for the stadium, $15 million for the museum and $17 million for reserve funds ... St. Francis College (Pennsylvania) will add women's lacrosse and field hockey as varsity sports. Both are scheduled to begin competition in the 2001-02 season.

Conferences: The University of Richmond has accepted an invitation to become a full member of the Atlantic 10 Conference , effective with the 2001-02 academic year. The Spiders currently are a member of the Colonial Athletic Association and have been in the CAA since the league's inception in 1985. The Atlantic 10 extended the invitation after its annual meeting in May. "This is a historic opportunity for Richmond's athletics program to join a major national conference," said Richmond President William E. Cooper. "Richmond is honored to have served as a charter member of the Colonial Athletic Association." Richmond will join the University of Dayton; Duquesne University; Fordham University; George Washington University; La Salle University; University of Massachusetts, Amherst; University of Rhode Island; St. Bonaventure University; St. Joseph's University; Temple University; and Xavier University in the Atlantic 10. Richmond already plays football in the Atlantic 10. Richmond is the third CAA member to announce its departure this year. American University will leave next year for the Patriot League, and East Carolina University will leave next year for Conference USA. If the CAA does not expand, it will be left with six teams -- George Mason University; James Madison University; College of William and Mary; Old Dominion University; University of North Carolina, Wilmington; and Virginia Commonwealth University. "The CAA already has an expansion committee in place and that group will continue to actively address issues involving potential new members," said CAA Commissioner Thomas E. Yeager.

Conference USA an nounced a new brand identity campaign. The branding system, developed in cooperation with SME Power Branding of New York, is designed to reinforce the conference's athletics and national emergence. "Conference USA's achievements have solidified our identity and the direction we are taking for the future," said Conference USA Commissioner Mike Slive. "It is an appropriate time for us to translate that into a comprehensive brand building program, including the creation of new marks. We are extremely pleased with how this program will represent our league, as well as complement our enhanced marketing and promotional efforts." The new marks include a corporate mark, a branding mark and a cross-branding mark, the first of its kind for a major athletics conference. "The opportunity to join the Conference USA mark with its member universities' marks in this coordinated program will allow each property to gain value from association with one another," said Pat Battle, president of the Collegiate Licensing Company ... SBC Communications Inc. and the Cotton Bowl Athletic Association have announced that Dallas' annual New Year's Day football game will be renamed the SBC Cotton Bowl Classic, effective immediately for the January 1, 2001, contest. The bowl matches teams from the Big 12 Conference and Southeastern Conference. The SBC Cotton Bowl replaces the Southwestern Bell Cotton Bowl name, which has been in place since 1996. A new official logo is anticipated by early fall. "For a nationally televised game, it makes more sense for us to use a corporate name known around the world rather than a regional brand that is effective in only five states," said Edward E. Whitacre Jr., chair and CEO of SBC Communications. Fred McClure, chair of Cotton Bowl Athletic Association, said, "The SBC Cotton Bowl enhances our image as a major bowl game and better reflects SBC's anticipated service to states within the Southeastern Conference." SBC is one of the world's largest communications companies, serving customers from California to Connecticut, with international communications investments in 22 countries. SBC's Southwestern Bell brand is used in the company's original service area of Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas and Kansas.