Registration will open next week for the 2009 NCAA Convention in Washington, D.C., and one of the biggest changes delegates will notice – in addition to the new location – is a shift in the dates for the event.

Set for January 14-17 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center on the Maryland side of the Potomac River, the Convention dates are both later in January than most prior attendees are accustomed to and on different days of the week.

In past years, the Convention was held earlier in January, occasionally beginning the first week of the new year. However, as the Bowl Championship Series games stretched further into January, the Convention began overlapping with the BCS championship game and even other games, forcing administrators to choose between the Convention and the championship game.

While moving the Convention to later in January, at least through 2019, eliminated those concerns, it also created a new scheduling issue with the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, traditionally observed the third Monday of the month.

Shifting the days-of-the-week format for the Convention from the usual Friday-Monday schedule to the Wednesday-Saturday before Martin Luther King Jr. Day will allow delegates to avoid travel or business on the holiday.

The shift was the result of membership feedback and a 2005 request from the Division I Management Council’s governance subcommittee that delegates be allowed a four-day window after the BCS game. The subcommittee also asked that the Convention not occur on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

For this Convention only, the shift also allows the Association to be part of the festivities in the nation’s capitol in the days leading up to Inauguration Day.

Future Convention dates and sites are:

• 2010- Atlanta, January 13-16
• 2011- San Antonio, January 12-15
• 2012- Indianapolis, January 11-14
• 2013- Grapevine, Texas, January 16-19
• 2014- To be announced later this year
• 2015- Washington, D.C., January 14-17 
• 2016- San Antonio, January 13-16
• 2017- Dallas, January 11-14
• 2018- Indianapolis, January 17-20
• 2019- Atlanta, January 16-19