The Division II Presidents Council demonstrated how deeply it supports the Life in the Balance project by adding men’s and women’s basketball to an already substantive package of Convention proposals that would shorten seasons and reduce contests in several sports.

The Life in the Balance initiative, which deals with reducing the number of contests in Division II, had previously passed through the Legislation and Championships Committees, along with the Division II Management Council.

At their meeting Thursday, the presidents not only unanimously agreed to sponsor proposals to cut contests in men’s and women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, field hockey, baseball, softball, and men’s and women’s golf, but they also agreed to sponsor a proposal to reduce the number of regular-season games in men’s and women’s basketball from 27 to 26.  

Contest reductions in basketball had been absent from other versions of the package, though Management Council members at their July meeting came close to endorsing cuts either through a one-game reduction or a regular-season cap that incorporated exempted contests.

But the Presidents Council saw the Life in the Balance proposal that calls for a seven-day dead period from December 20-26 during which no athletically related activities could take place as reason for also reducing the number of games in basketball. Since the dead period essentially compresses the season, the presidents reasoned that a requisite reduction in games was not only appropriate but consistent with how cuts in other sports were being formulated.

“The Life in the Balance initiative is all about reducing student-athletes’ time commitment to athletics – a commitment that data show is increasingly out of balance,” said Presidents Council Chair Stephen Jordan of Metropolitan State. “Trying to fit the same number of games in a shorter season is not the way to achieve the kind of balance we are after. We supported the approach for soccer, volleyball and other sports, and basketball should be no different.”

Not all sports are subject to reductions (at least in this year’s Life in the Balance package), though Jordan noted that those that aren’t – including football, cross country, lacrosse, wrestling, tennis, swimming and diving, and track and field – conduct their contests primarily on weekends or don’t have that many games to begin with. Those sports also don’t use many discretionary exemptions, which keeps their number of overall contests more manageable.

But the presidents thought basketball, with a season that lasts from October through March and includes 30 or more games for teams that use their three allowable discretionary exemptions, was a glaring omission from a legislative package designed to align playing and practice seasons with the principles outlined in the Division II strategic-positioning platform.

“If we’re talking about balance, then you have to add basketball to the mix,” Jordan said. “It doesn’t make sense to have the dead period without a reduction in games.”

To get there, the presidents considered the same two options the Management Council did earlier. Besides the simple one-game reduction, a second alternative would have capped all games, including exemptions, at 28. For example, teams could play 25 regular-season games and three exempted games, 26 regular-season games and two exempted contests, or 27 regular-season games and one exemption (28 regular-season games and no exemptions was not an alternative).

But the presidents noted that phase two of the Life in the Balance discussions next year will include an examination of exempted contests in all sports (in addition to a review of non-championship segments and further game reductions if necessary). Thus, they didn’t want to introduce a complex system only for basketball that included exempted contests without first conducting a broader review for all sports.

“So for now, we’re essentially proposing that for basketball – including the current allowable exemptions – teams can play 29 games rather than 30,” Jordan said.

If the basketball legislation is approved at the Convention, it would become effective for the 2010-11 season. The Presidents Council also asked the Championships Committee to revisit the minimum number of contests for selection purposes in the sports for which game cuts are being proposed.

With basketball in the mix, the Life in the Balance package for the 2010 Convention contains proposals that:

• Reduce contests in men’s and women’s soccer (from 20 to 18), field hockey (from 20 to 18), women’s volleyball (from 28 to 26), baseball (from 56 to 50), men’s and women’s basketball (from 27 to 26), men’s and women’s golf (from 24 dates to 21) and softball (by eliminating the tournament exception).
• Reduce the length of seasons in soccer, volleyball, field hockey and cross country by allowing student-athletes to report 17 days before the first permissible contest (which cannot be before the Thursday preceding September 6) or five days before the start of classes, whichever is earlier. Those dates are about a week later than current legislation.
• Football student-athletes could begin their preseason practice activities either 21 days before the first permissible contest date in Division II (which also couldn’t be before the Thursday preceding September 6) or seven days before the start of classes at the institution, whichever is earlier. The Division II Championships Committee approved a policy change (contingent on the adoption of the proposals) to move the football championship back one week to accommodate the later reporting dates.
• Establish a seven-day “dead period” from December 20-26 that prevents winter-sport student-athletes from participating in practices or games and precludes student-athletes in all sports from participating in voluntary workouts on campus during the same period unless those activities are conducted in facilities open to the general student body.

The Presidents Council asked that the Life in the Balance package be drafted in four legislative parts – one for the fall sports, one for the winter break, one for the spring sports and one for the game reduction in basketball.

“This package reflects a significant amount of work in the committee structure to meet the charge presidents issued last January to examine reforms that begin to act out the balance we document in our platform and to address better business practices,” Jordan said. “It’s an example of presidential leadership and what we want our division to represent.”