Goal-setting is about knowing where you want to go. And because predetermined sites for first and second rounds are a reality for this year's Division I Women's Basketball Championship, teams will know where their goals will take them for the first time.

But a bigger goal for many coaches and administrators is knowing where they want to go in the future: neutral sites. And many feel that this year's predetermined sites are a step toward that outcome.

"The committee would like to move to neutral sites as quickly as possible, but there is no timeline," said Cheryl Marra, chair of the Division I Women's Basketball Committee and associate athletics director at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. "It may be interesting to note that the Division I Men's Basketball Championship did not move to neutral sites for first- and second rounds until 1989."

One of the main objectives of the predetermined sites proposal is to give host institutions or conferences more opportunities to market the games, which hopefully translates to a better experience for the student-athlete. The approval of the proposal coincides with the NCAA's signing of an 11-year agreement with ESPN to televise 21 events, including all 63 games of the Division I Women's Basketball championship.

"With the schedule changes and other enhancements to this year's championship, such as four-day regionals and moving the Women's Final Four to Sunday and Tuesday, the timing for the move to predetermined sites made sense," said Josh Krulewitz, ESPN's director of media relations. "Predetermined sites allow ESPN to maximize and execute coverage, given the volume of games to produce and all of the logistics that go with this venture."

For now, the committee is working toward the short-term goals of enhancing the membership's understanding of the bid process, cultivating new sites for the tournament and evaluating the opening year's venture to predetermined sites.

New sites encouraged

Familiar sites are on the list for the 2003 first- and second-round games, regardless of the predetermined-site process, including eight repeat first- and second-round sites from 2002.

This year will be the only year first- and second-round hosts will be permitted to also host a regional. The committee hopes new facilities and hosts will be on board soon.

"We were pleased with the number of bids we had for the first year out, and the timing was an issue the first time," Marra said. "We would have liked to have seen more representation across the country, but there were some conferences that really stepped forward. We certainly had bids to choose from, and we hope to grow that number."

Thirty-nine bids were submitted to host the opening rounds in 2003, and 27 were from institutions that had previously hosted first- and second-round games. The lack of new bids to the pool may have been influenced by the short turnaround time available last year. Final approval for predetermined sites was granted by the NCAA governance structure in April and bids had to be submitted to the national office and reviewed by the committee by June. Bid information for 2004 was sent out in December, allowing potential sites two months of extra time.

"We are hoping that the additional notice will result in the submission of more bids and in turn, provide more choices for the committee," Marra said.

Besides encouraging new sites, the committee also is evaluating geographic locations, hotel accommodations, attendance history and financial guarantees for selecting first- and second-round sites.

"If all other criteria are comparable, preference is given to those sites that submitted a minimum of $75,000 in gross ticket sales," Marra said. "All but seven sites met the minimum (for 2003). Of the seven that failed to meet the minimum in gross ticket sales, none were selected."

Bidding has risks, rewards

The $75,000 in gross ticket sales translates into a little over 3,700 in attendance at $20 per full-session ticket.

Although the potential for a neutral site is optimal for competition, the financial guarantee by the host must be considered. Hosting a first- and second-round site doesn't guarantee a team a bid to the tournament. The only sure-fire way to be selected remains a conference automatic bid.

"The disadvantage (of bidding) is that you might end up with four teams with which your fan base is less than familiar playing at your site," said Bill Rowe, athletics director at Southwest Missouri State University. "I won't say it's a gamble for us because we feel that we have strong fan support, but the support will be better if the Lady Bears are in the tournament. We can build a bid on that."

The Big 12 Conference, which boasted more than a million fans in 2002 in regular-season and conference-tournament play, had the most bids of any conference to host first- and second-round games in 2003.

"It doesn't take much encouragement to get our institutions interested in hosting NCAA championships, particularly because we have such great fan support," said Big 12 Commissioner Kevin Weiberg. "We can be pretty confident that we can get fans in the stands. I think we would have good support (at a neutral site), but I don't think it would be at quite the same level that exists with the home team."

Rowe said the upsides of bidding on first- and second-round sites are significant even if the chance exists for the home team not to participate.

"It gives you the edge when you're at your place," Rowe said. "It is a tremendous advantage to have your fans. Another thing to consider when deciding to bid is how far you may end up having to travel for your games. Hosting really gives your program a shot in the arm."

A learning process

The committee is spreading the word on the advantages of hosting by educating athletics administrators and conference commissioners about the process. For example, the group staged an educational session at this year's NCAA Convention.

"We are trying to touch base with conference offices and conference commissioners to encourage their members to submit bids," Marra said. "If the conference office itself has a site and can bid, it creates an even more neutral site."

The educational process isn't just for the membership. The women's basketball committee will be learning and evaluating predetermined sites as well.

"The interesting part is that it is a new exercise," Marra said. "We have identified issues to be aware of in advance and tried to work clearly through them, but there will be issues we didn't anticipate."

Marra said she believes nothing is etched in stone, and the committee will evaluate the entire process to make sure it is best for the teams, the tournament, television and competitive equity, among other concerns.

"Everything we can learn this year will make it better for the future," Marra said.