The Division I Football Issues Committee is recommending that the Postseason Football Licensing Subcommittee require background checks for officials working postseason bowl games beginning in 2006.

The committee, which began discussing the recommendation last summer, finalized the suggestion at its January 11-12 meeting in Dallas.

Currently, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, men’s ice hockey and baseball are the only sports in which background checks for officials are required. Those sports’ championships are high-profile events and appear on the sports books in Las Vegas.

Committee members believe postseason bowl games deserve the same treatment when it comes to the background checks.

“Because of the importance of the games, we want to make sure we have touched all the bases concerning their integrity,” said Football Issues Committee Chair and Pennsylvania State University Athletics Director Tim Curley.

The proposal will be forwarded to the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet for further consideration. The FIC will discuss gambling issues in more detail at its July meeting in Indianapolis.

Committee members also agreed to study a proposal from the American Football Coaches Association that would allow Division I-A institutions to schedule a preseason practice with another institution. Similar practices currently are conducted in the NFL.

Since the discussion is in the preliminary stage, though, the committee agreed to contact NFL representatives and review the parameters professional teams set for those sessions.

Curley said those who support the idea for college teams believe it presents many schools with a low-cost opportunity to enhance football practices. “Institutions could travel to a nearby campus on a Saturday and scrimmage without any attendance, because it would be closed,” he said, emphasizing that the concept has been discussed only in general terms.

“It could be an opportunity to break the monotony of preseason practice and go against someone else nearby,” Curley said. “It would give a little different measuring stick on where your team is, and it could be done in a low-cost and productive way.”

The committee also reiterated its support of legislation that would allow football student-athletes five seasons of eligibility. Proposals to do that have been in each of the last two legislative cycles but were withdrawn before being initially considered by the Management Council.

Committee members believe in the idea so strongly that they agreed to inform NCAA President Myles Brand of their support. They also noted that the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee has opposed the concept in the past because some members believe the core purpose is merely to keep players on the field rather than enhance their well-being. Football Issues Committee members believe they can counter that argument through research, and they plan to explore support in that regard from entities within the governance structure.

The committee hopes to develop a conceptual model by late April so that a legislative recommendation can be presented to the  Championships/Competition Cabinet at its meeting in June.

In other actions, the committee:

• Appointed a panel with AFCA representatives to examine the impact of new technologies, such as text messaging, on the recruiting process.
• Noted an increase in football student-athletes not wearing equipment such as knee or hip pads, and re-emphasized the importance of football uniform and equipment compliance among student-athletes for safety purposes.
• Supported an effort from the Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports to provide more information to institutions about which banned substances were found most frequently in positive test cases.