The Task Force on Commercial Activities in Intercollegiate Athletics, formed by the Division I Board of Directors at the NCAA Convention, will begin its discussions about commercial activities in intercollegiate athletics and student-athlete well-being associated with athletics, including postseason football, at its inaugural meeting April 12.

Led by Penn State President Graham Spanier, the group is expected to discuss how the educational image of intercollegiate athletics squares with interest from the media, public, and other entities to commercialize college sports in ways that resemble professional athletics. The goal is to find a level of commercial activity that respects higher education as the framework for intercollegiate athletics.

The group is charged with developing broad-based, consistent principles that will be translated into NCAA legislation affecting all sports and all commercial activity associated with athletics, with a special emphasis on the two issues that led to the formation of the task force: the use of student-athlete likenesses, images and names and the environment of postseason football in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision.

Charged with submitting its recommendations to the Board by the end of the year, the group will begin its first meeting with a review of data, including revenue, corporate sponsors, number of contests and number of promotions. Guidance from the Presidential Task Force on the Future of Division I Intercollegiate Athletics also will be considered, as will current NCAA rules regarding amateurism and promotional activities.

The NCAA Strategic Plan, adopted in 2004, will also be integral to the group’s discussions.

In addition to the presidents and chancellors serving on the panel, consultants drawn from the NCAA membership, including institutional and conference-level administrative and faculty representatives, will share their expertise.

Group members are:

President Michael Adams, Georgia *#

President James Barker, Clemson *

President Frank Brogan, Florida Atlantic *

President David Frohnmayer, Oregon

President Walter Harrison, Hartford #

Chancellor Harvey Perlman, Nebraska

President John Peters, Northern Illinois

President Shirley Raines, Memphis *#

President David Schmidly, New Mexico #

President Graham Spanier (chair), Penn State #

President Timothy White, Idaho *

President Nancy Zimpher, Cincinnati *#

Consultants:

Elizabeth Altmaier, FAR, Iowa

Robert Bowlsby, athletics director, Stanford

Chris Plonsky, director of women’s athletics, Texas

Doug Fullerton, commissioner, Big Sky Conference

John Swofford, commissioner, Atlantic Coast Conference

Craig Thompson, commissioner, Mountain West Conference

Keith Tribble, athletics director, Central Florida

*denotes Board member; # denotes member of the Division I Task Force on the Future of Intercollegiate Athletics