The Division III Baseball Committee addressed aspects of the next three years' championships -- including proposing a format for an expanded bracket beginning in 2006 -- during its July 20-22 meeting in San Francisco.

The committee recommended to the Division III Championships Committee an eight-regional format that would send seven teams to five sites and six teams to the other three sites when the bracket expands from the current 42 to 53 teams.

The expansion is based on the planned implementation of the 1:6.5 championships access ratio beginning in fall 2005. The Championships Committee will receive the recommendation at its September meeting.

Other recommendations to the Championships Committee address championships in 2005 through 2007.

The committee considered sites to host the championship finals in 2006 and 2007, as well as plans to recommend as many as five predetermined regional sites for the 2005 championship.

Recommendations for the finals site will be forwarded to the Championships Committee by September.

The committee also will solicit proposed budgets this fall for the predetermined regional sites, with the intention of presenting recommendations at the Championships Committee's January 2005 meeting.

One predetermined site was selected for the 2004 championship.

In other actions, the committee: