SAN ANTONIO -- The Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet supported competitive-equity recommendations proposed by the Division I Baseball Issues Committee, but also voted during its June 21-22 meeting to sponsor an amendment that would reduce the maximum number of contests in the sport by four games.

If the proposal succeeds in the 2005-06 legislative cycle, the last Friday in February would become the first permissible playing date in Division I baseball, and the Men's College World Series would move back a week during years in which the season is fewer than 13 weeks. The CWS would still be completed before July 1 in those years.

The cabinet's proposed amendment would reduce the maximum number of contests in the playing season from 56 games to 52.

Originally, the Baseball Issues Committee had recommended that the first permissible date of competition be March 1 -- or the Friday before March 1 if that date fell on a Saturday, Sunday, Monday or Tuesday -- and that the CWS would extend to July 1 or beyond in 2010-13. The Division I Board of Directors, however, voiced concerns about extending the season into the month of July, and in fact asked the committee to consider a reduction in the playing season.

After approving the new recommendations by the Baseball Issues Committee, the cabinet voted to withdraw the original proposal it preliminarily agreed to sponsor in September 2004.

The Baseball Issues Committee pondered the idea of reducing the playing season during its deliberations, but did not include a recommendation in its latest proposal, preferring to wait until a study of the new Academic Progress Rate on the sport is completed.

That research could be concluded sometime this month.

A uniform date for the start of competition is seen as a compromise designed to lessen the gap in home games played by institutions in the North and in the Sun Belt. Research by the Baseball Issues Committee indicates that home teams win approximately 60 percent of the time, and there is a great disparity between the regions in locations where early-season games are played.

David Housel, director of athletics at Auburn University and a member of both the Championships/Competition Cabinet and the Baseball Issues Committee told cabinet members that a uniform start date is in the best interest of the sport.

"This is the best compromise possible at this particular time," said Housel, who did not vote to reduce games. "It is absolutely not what the Northern and Eastern schools want, and it is absolutely not what the Sun Belt schools want. No one on this cabinet and no one in the NCAA can underestimate the hard line taken by both the Northern and Eastern schools and the Sun Belt schools. We hear a lot about the hard line from the North and the East, but the feelings are just as strong to not do anything from the Sun Belt schools.

"This is, as we've said all along the way, a compromise. It really pleases nobody, but it's a compromise reached by representatives of the North, the East, the West and the South as the best for baseball at this particular time. It is a work in progress, and I remind you of that again."

In years (2008, 2009 and 2014) when the CWS would move back a week, a champion is scheduled to be crowned before July 1.

However, in those years, institutions and conferences that elect to compete up until the day before championship selections may incur additional costs due to student-athletes remaining on campus during vacation periods. According to a survey by the Baseball Issues Committee, the costs average $6,000 per week when school is not in session.

In other highlights of the meeting, the Championships/Competition Cabinet:

* Endorsed a request by the Division I Women's Basketball Issues Committee that the Division I Management Council use its emergency legislative authority to amend the recruiting calendar.

The proposal calls for classifying as a quiet period the time beginning Friday after the completion of the Division I Women's Basketball Championship through the Sunday at the beginning of the week that includes the initial spring signing date for the National Letter of Intent. That period currently is classified as a dead period.

If the proposal is adopted, it would give prospective student-athletes discretion to visit college campuses during that period if they choose. The measure would become effective for April 2006 if adopted as emergency legislation.

* Endorsed two legislative recommendations from the Division I Men's Basketball Issues Committee.

The first recommendation proposes that, once a prospect has signed a National Letter of Intent, an institution may contact a high-school academic official an unlimited number of times on the prospect's campus for the purpose of discussing matters specifically related to the prospect's eligibility.

The second proposal would prohibit direct or indirect communication with a prospect and with relatives or legal guardians, a coach, or any other individual associated with the prospect as a result of his participation in basketball, while the prospect is participating in a nonscholastic event during the contact period in April.

* Advanced a legislative recommendation from the cabinet's Bracket and Format Subcommittee setting automatic-qualification standards in National Collegiate Championships.

The recommendation proposes the following standards: A conference must be composed of at least six active members that sponsor the applicable sport in any division; the six active members must have conducted conference competition together for the preceding two years; there shall be no waivers to the two-year waiting period; and any new member added to a conference that is eligible for an automatic bid shall be immediately eligible to represent the conference as the automatic qualifier.

* Received information from the Bracket/Format Subcommittee that the subcommittee, at its September 2005 meeting, will review survey results regarding institutional costs associated with regional competition in the Division I Men's and Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championship.

* Approved a recommendation from the NCAA Olympic Sports Liaison Committee to permit the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) or the appropriate national governing body in the sport (or the equivalent organization of a nation for international student-athletes) to provide actual and necessary expenses when a team (or a senior student-athlete) is accorded special recognition by the President, or by the governor or legislative body of the state in which the institution is located.

* Received information from the Division I Football Licensing Subcommittee regarding the use of instant replay in postseason bowl games.

The cabinet endorsed a recommendation from the subcommittee to require conference offices and postseason bowl game management to decide which posteason bowl games will use instant replay for the 2005 bowl season. It was noted that the subcommittee and the Football Rules Committee will work in tandem to implement the initiative.

* Defeated a request by the Northeast Conference to be granted automatic qualification into the Division I-AA Football Championship. However, the cabinet voted to refer the issue to the Division I-AA Governance Committee of the Management Council.

There can be only eight automatic qualifiers in the tournament under current cabinet policy, but nine conferences have applied to receive AQ. The NEC champion is the odd applicant out under current criteria, although the Division I-AA Football Committee can award its champion one of the eight at-large spots in the bracket.