With the effective date of the NCAA's new television contract with CBS Sports fast approaching, the Association's Executive Committee has mapped out a tentative financial plan for the allocations.

The new television rights fee contract with CBS becomes effective for the 2002-03 budget cycle and runs through 2012-13. During the past year, preliminary plans have been developed through input from the governance structure, the membership and conference commissioners that allocate the new funds through the completion of the contract.

Though the Executive Committee noted that the long-range plan is not set in stone, it did agree that the exercise is helpful to the Association from a planning perspective.

There are two key revenue assumptions in the long-range plan. One is that the $6.2 billion CBS agreement, including the amount guaranteed for the current ESPN television rights ($200 million), will be paid according to the contract payment schedule. The other assumption is that all other revenue will increase by about 3 percent per year. In total, revenues are projected to increase by more than 22 percent in the first year of the contract, followed by an average increase of about 7 percent annually thereafter.

In addition, a new student-athlete opportunity fund will be allocated about $370 million over the next 11 years to assist student-athletes with educational and other essential financial needs. That fund will operate through allocations to conferences that in turn will determine allocations to their member institutions. The new fund may not be used to assist schools with capital projects or to enhance existing coaches salaries.

In all, total revenues are projected to increase from more than $345 million in 2001-02 to more than $870 million in 2012-13. Division I revenues are projected to increase from $181 million to more than $528 million in that same time period, while Division II revenues are expected to increase from $14.6 million to $38 million, and Division III revenues are expected to increase from $10.6 million to $27.6 million.

The Executive Committee approved the first five years of the tentative budget allocations and recommended that a review of the remaining projections be conducted in 2006. The group noted, however, that the intent of this action is to provide a framework for planning purposes and not to establish what the Committee called "entitlements."

The Committee also approved tentative budget allocations for 2001-02. Based on projected revenues of $345.7 million, the Executive Committee's Budget Committee is recommending that Division I distributions increase by about $10.5 million and that Divisions II and III expenses increase by their constitutionally guaranteed amounts. In addition, the group recommends that Division I initiatives increase by $1 million, and that Executive Committee and presidential initiatives increase by about $1.5 million.

The Committee received reports of the Division I, II and III three-year budget plans, including strategic-planning initiatives as requested in response to the new CBS agreement and significant additional revenues to the Association.

The Budget Committee noted that in April, it will recommend funding for specific budget requests after all requests have been received and reviewed by the division Management Councils and presidential bodies.

Other actions

In other action, the Executive Committee reviewed NCAA policy regarding information protected under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). The Committee reviewed a recommendation for the inclusion of additional policy steps regarding NCAA comments and announcements about student-athlete eligibility and infractions cases. Specifically, the recommendation states that in cases where the media reports inaccurately; quotes student-athletes or their representatives, institutional members or other third parties in which there are inaccuracies; or where institutional press releases contain inaccuracies so that there is public confusion about action taken by the NCAA or its committees, the following steps will be taken:

The NCAA president, or the president's designated representative, will communicate with the chief executive officer of the appropriate institution.

The NCAA staff will ask that the institution correct the inaccurate reports.

If the institution cannot or will not submit the corrections, the NCAA staff will be delegated the authority to correct the inaccurate reports.

The Committee noted that the proposed changes are consistent with the authority given by the student-athlete through the change in the student-athlete statement form approved by the Department of Education.