The Division III Championships Committee, which met January 23-25 in Indianapolis, has turned its focus toward the work of subcommittees that are concentrating on topics of interest in the division right now: the review of automatic qualification, championships hosting issues and cost containment.

The Championships Experience Subcommittee and the Automatic-Qualification Subcommittee together are developing a survey for the Division III membership that committee members hope will provide guidance as both groups move forward later this year with specific recommendations to the Division III Management Council and Presidents Council, then ultimately with proposed legislation for the 2003 NCAA Convention.

At the recent NCAA Convention, the Championships Committee heard concerns from the membership regarding automatic qualification and promised to address them in a timely manner. The committee has taken the first step, moving quickly to map out a process and timeline for review.

The Championships Committee is planning to survey the membership in April, at that time presenting different models and asking for membership feedback on a variety of related automatic-qualification processes and formulas for determining access for conference champions, independents and at-large berths. The committee will send the draft survey to the Division III Management Council at its April meeting for review.

Results of the survey are expected in time for the Championships Committee's June meeting, when the committee likely will recommend specific legislative models for the 2003 Convention to the Management and Presidents Councils in time for the late summer meetings of those groups.

The survey likely will include a variety of questions regarding the automatic-qualification process, and the subcommittee also plans to ask questions regarding the possible application of automatic-qualification principles to individual-team sports. The Championships Committee has received specific requests from the Management Council about applying the principles to golf and tennis, and the committee also would like to gauge membership interest in that possibility.

The membership may be asked to indicate its priorities on potential changes in automatic qualification, particularly on elements that would require significant budgetary resources.

The survey also will ask the membership to provide feedback on its priorities on other championships issues. That feedback will be used to give the committee guidance as it looks to analyze costs and prioritize any expansions or changes. For example, the membership likely will be asked to prioritize from among the following: expanded brackets or an increase in the per diem, increased travel-party and squad sizes, officiating fees, participant mementoes, etc. The idea is to gauge the membership's priorities on such matters so as to use resources in a way that maximizes membership satisfaction while still maintaining fiscal responsibility.

Studying variables

In addition to planning the survey, the Championships Committee is busy analyzing several issues related to the championships experience and the budget.

The Championships Experience Subcommittee is examining the last three years of NCAA financial records to analyze how using predetermined sites vs. nonpredetermined sites affects the number of flights involved, as well as related costs. The subcommittee also is looking at the costs of predetermined-site travel expenses on a site-specific basis.

The subcommittee is reviewing formats and seeding and the effects of adding midweek games (which has been the practice to accommodate bracket expansion) vs. other options, such as the possibility of creating a three-day weekend championships experience.

The Championships Committee also is studying the effects of two policy changes approved by the Management and Presidents Councils in January to address immediate financial concerns: (1) requiring the use of hub airports within 150 miles if it is cheaper and (2) permitting air travel outside a 500-mile radius of the site instead of the current 400-mile radius.

As directed by the Management and Presidents Councils, those two policy changes are only in effect for this year at this point. The committee is interested in evaluating the policy changes' effectiveness and also whether the changes result in either lost class time or excessive time demands on the student-athletes.

While the Championships Committee still is evaluating all the variables at work in contributing to escalating costs of championships, the committee has determined that additional choices of championship sites -- and an increase in lead time before site selection -- would be helpful as sport committees look to contain and evaluate costs. To that end, the Championships Experience Subcommittee is trying to encourage the membership to submit bids to host championships. The subcommittee has begun work on a handbook for the membership that will be available by June and will explain what is required to host an NCAA championship and how the process works. The hope is that the handbook will encourage institutions that have not hosted in the past to submit bids.

The Championships Committee also is working with the NCAA accounting staff to determine a cutoff date (and accompanying penalties for missing it) for the submission of receipts by host institutions. In the past, institutions often would submit receipts late, making it difficult for accounting to close the books on a championship and undermining the championships budget-planning process.

In other actions, the committee:

* Planned an additional in-person meeting in March in Indianapolis. This meeting will take the place of the in-person meeting that was scheduled last fall and had to be conducted via conference call because of the events of September 11.

* Agreed to continue to examine the issue of a sports festival for Division III championships, though not in an aggressive manner. The committee agreed, based on sport committee feedback, to address other priorities for now. The committee also noted that since Division II has planned such a festival for 2004, there will be an opportunity to examine the festival and Division II's experience with it at that time.