DALLAS -- The NCAA Executive Committee at its January 10 meeting at the NCAA Convention in Dallas approved uses for $29.4 million in unallocated net assets from fiscal-year 2003-04.

Uses include a supplemental distribution of $13.7 million to Division I institutions and another $13.7 million to the NCAA quasi-endowment. The Executive Committee approved the establishment of the quasi-endowment last November as a "rainy day" fund for student-athlete programming and the national office infrastructure. Executive Committee members agreed that half of unallocated net assets each year would be placed toward the quasi-endowment.

Other uses for the 2003-04 unallocated net assets include $1.3 million for student-athlete program funding and $700,000 for technology initiatives, particularly for moving more NCAA business applications to the Internet. Divisions II and III were allocated an additional $358,000 and $261,000, respectively, from surplus funds.

The Executive Committee also recommended that all future interest earnings from investments be allocated to the quasi-endowment and that the backfill of the base operating budget occur over the next several years from reallocations or new program initiative moneys.

In other items, Executive Committee members heard a presentation from the accounting firm of Deloitte and Touche, which had been retained to conduct a risk assessment of NCAA activities.

The project identified three key risks that could have an impact on the Association:

• Adverse reputation and brand impacts due to external and Association actions.

• Lack of revenue diversification.

• Limitations on the NCAA's ability to effectively govern due to federal or state legislative intervention or adverse legal interpretation of NCAA regulations and standards.

The Executive Committee noted that Deloitte is assisting NCAA staff in the development of detailed mitigation strategies, which when fully implemented, should reduce the Association's risks in all those areas.

The Executive Committee also heard an update regarding plans for the Association's Centennial, which will launch at the 2006 NCAA Convention in Indianapolis. The theme for the Centennial is "celebrating the student-athlete," a phrase that NCAA President Myles Brand used to anchor his State of the Association speech during the Dallas Convention's opening business session.

Centennial activation items include a Centennial book, NCAA Honors Program enhancements, a Centennial activation kit for member institutions, NCAA championships-related activation activities and media opportunities.