The Division I Football Committee at its meeting last month in La Jolla, California, recommended an increased emphasis on crowd control during all rounds of the championship.

Committee members are empowering on-field officials to stop a game during a situation that compromises the safety of participants and fans or affects the integrity of the game.

For example, during the 2007 NCAA Division I Football Championship game between Appalachian State and Delaware in Chattanooga, Tennessee, fans began leaving the stands with about four minutes left in the contest to stand on the sidelines. While no negative incidents were reported, it’s a situation the committee doesn’t want repeated.

“We have an obligation to maintain a safe environment and protect the teams and fans to the best of our abilities,” said committee Chair John McCutcheon, the director of athletics at Massachusetts. “All it would take is for the wrong person, at the wrong time, making the wrong comment, and you could have an ugly situation. We don’t want anything to happen that will diminish the championship experience.”

In the future, on-field officials will be expected to stop the game until the playing area is cleared.

Since this policy encompasses the entire championship, institutions that fail to manage crowd control could lose the chance to host future FCS postseason games. This part of the proposal would have to be approved by the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet.

“We’re looking at different scenarios where we can work with the host organization in terms of providing access in the stands if an emergency situation arises,” McCutcheon said. “There may be a call-in hotline number or text message system, if a situation needs to be addressed.”

Committee members also reviewed attendance and television ratings of the championship.

The final game on December 14 drew a neutral-field record crowd of 23,010 to Chattanooga’s Finley Stadium/Davenport Field.

Overall, the championship drew 179,046 fans, which is an average of 11,936 per game. Those numbers are comparable to attendance for the 2006 tournament.

The cable television rating for the championship final on ESPN increased to a 1.51 compared to 1.26 rating of 2006. Also, 3.6 million people viewed the game, which is an increase over the 2.9 million from the previous year.

Appalachian State’s presence in the final contributed to the increase. The Mountaineers opened the season with a shocking upset at then-No. 5 Michigan and drew attention to the quality of play throughout the FCS. 

“When you look at it closer, you see that (Appalachian State over Michigan) wasn’t an isolated situation,” McCutcheon said. “We had several FCS teams beat Football Bowl Subdivision teams, and we had some where the games were very competitive. It shows the competitive level that FCS football has reached.”