After the first Division II National Championships Festival, the message is clear: Let's do it again.

At its June 22-23 meeting, the Division II Championships Committee voted to conduct a second championships festival in spring 2008 and also to examine the possibility of a fall festival in 2006.

The decision to proceed with a second spring festival was based on the success of the first festival May 11-16 in Orlando, Florida. That success was revealed both anecdotally and through a survey that was administered during the event (see the accompanying table). The survey showed strong support for the overall concept of the festival (84.3 percent of the responding student-athletes said it was better than a single-sport championship) and for its various components.

While the commitment to do a second spring festival came as no surprise (the original agreement two years ago was to produce a spring sports festival once every four years), the willingness to pursue the 2006 fall festival was more interesting.

Preliminary discussions have focused on a fall festival that would include men's and women's cross country, field hockey, men's and women's soccer, and women's volleyball. Given the complexity of a sports festival, a decision will need to be made soon, perhaps as early as the committee's September meeting.

Other business

In other business, the Championships Committee recommended regional realignment in men's and women's basketball, women's volleyball, and wrestling. The three changes will be subject to approval by the Division II Management Council, which will meet in July.

In basketball, the Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference would be moved to the South Atlantic region and the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association to the East region, effective for 2005-06. One of the conferences had to be moved to the extreme southern end of the East region, and the committee chose the CIAA because it would be slightly less affected than the CVAC.

In women's volleyball, the realignment was brought about by the need to rebalance the North Central region, which has lost several members in recent years. To achieve that balance, the committee recommended that the Great Lakes Valley Conference be moved to the North Central region, effective with the 2004-05 season.

The committee also recommended a realignment in wrestling in anticipation of the addition of Limestone College and Upper Iowa University and the elimination of wrestling programs at the University of Minnesota, Morris, and Central Washington University.

The committee also approved the following championship sites:

Men's basketball -- American International College and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame will host the 2006 and 2007 championships.

Men's and women's track and field -- Emporia State University will host the 2006 championships.

Wrestling -- The following regional sites were approved for 2005: East, University of Pittsburgh, Johnstown; Midwest, University of Wisconsin, Parkside; North, Southwest Minnesota State University; West, Chadron State College. The following regional sites were approved for 2006: East, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania; Midwest, Carson-Newman College; North, University of Nebraska at Omaha; West, Colorado School of Mines. Also, the University of Findlay was selected to host the 2006 Division II Wrestling Championships.

In other business, the committee:

Approved a recommendation that the men's and women's basketball selection committees consider only Division II games when looking at overall won-lost records and strength of schedule, effective for 2005-06.

Approved a minimum seating capacity of 1,000 for women's basketball regional competition, effective for 2005-06.

For women's basketball, approved increasing the minimum number of in-region games from 16 to 18, effective for 2005-06.

Approved a bid minimum of $10,000 for all first-round football games.

In wrestling, approved requiring that the four NCAA-sponsored regionals take place two weekends before the final (previous policy permitted the regionals to be conducted one or two weeks before the final).

Approved changes to the playing-rules approval process.

Requested that each fall sports committee present a preseason model to the Championship Committee in September.

Division II National Championships Festival survey results

Percentage of student-athlete respondents answering "good" or "very good" to the following questions:

Quality of competition area: 83.4 percent (52.6 "very good")

Appropriateness of site size: 90.1 percent (60.5 "very good")

Overall quality of competition site: 86.1 percent

Convenience of hotel to competition: 68.0 percent

Quality of student-athlete recreation room: 76.0 percent

Overall quality of hotel: 75.5 percent

Quality of host city (Orlando): 95.6 percent (49.8 percent "very good")

Quality of opening-ceremony concert (Collective Soul): 53.9 percent

Overall quality of opening-ceremony experience: 86.2 percent

Did the opening ceremony prevent you from adequately preparing for competition? 21.6 percent yes

Would you attend the opening ceremony if not required? 71.8 percent yes

Overall quality of closing ceremony: 81.7 percent yes

Would you attend the closing ceremony if not required? 80.1 percent yes

Did you attend a championship other than the one you competed in? 21.1 percent yes

Is the experience of participating in the Division II

National Championships Festival better than participating in a single-sport championship? 84.3 percent yes

Did student-athlete villages and ancillary events allow you to get to know student-athletes from outside your team? 69.5 percent yes

Most important championships experience factor: Quality of facilities