The Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics met for the fourth time January 23 in Washington, D.C., but it will take at least a fifth meeting before the group is ready to announce any recommendations.

As was the case in the Commission's first three meetings, the group heard testimony from entities that impact college sports, but this meeting was anticipated more for the Commission's deliberations after six months of information gathering. While Commission members did begin those deliberations, conducting a closed-door session during the last half of the meeting, they were unable to reach a consensus on the specific follow-through strategies that might be employed once a final report is issued.

The Commission met with Nils Hasselmo, president of the Association of American Universities, and Peter Magrath, president of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, during its closed-door session to address that matter, but agreed only that another meeting in March was necessary to deliberate further on the specifics of a follow-up mechanism for the Commission.

Dempsey, who also is a member of the Commission. "The issues are complicated, and there is not yet agreement on how best to reach a solution."

The Commission heard first from Adidas representative Sonny Vacarro, who offered insights on intercollegiate athletics from the apparel company perspective, particularly with regard to the summer recruiting environment in Division I men's basketball. Many of the issues Vacarro raised already have been scrutinized by the NCAA Basketball Issues Committee, a group assembled last fall to develop an alternative to the current summer recruiting environment, among other things. However, Vacarro suggested that some of what plagues the current summer environment has to do not only with encroachment on the part of apparel companies, but also with various coaches and athletics administrators who do not have student-athlete welfare in mind.

The Commission also heard from television network representatives, including Mike Aresco, senior vice-president of programming for CBS Sports; Loren Matthews, senior vice-president of programming for ABC Sports; and John Wildhack, senior vice-president of programming for ESPN. The Commission has been concerned that college sports are becoming increasingly dependent on large sums of money from commercial interests, including television contracts, and expressed its desire that college presidents become more involved in institutional relationships with television entities.

Commission members also expressed a concern that presidential reform initiatives often are undermined by some television commentators who criticize college academic standards or policies during sportscasts.

In addition, the Commission heard from individuals involved with sports-wagering initiatives, including Sen. John Edwards, D-North Carolina, sponsor of federal legislation to make gambling on college sports illegal. The group also heard from American Gaming Association President Frank Fahrenkopf, who said the legislation would have the unintended consequence of actually increasing illegal sports-wagering activity.

The Commission's next step is to determine how to filter that information into a substantive report.

Dates for the Commission's March meeting have not been determined.