The Division II Presidents Council has affirmed a Championships Committee policy that establishes a contingency plan to provide a more fiscally responsible model for Division II regional tournaments.

The plan allows sport committees to divide an eight-team regional into two four-team subregionals in cases where all teams selected for regional play would need to fly to a single host site. The plan protects the right the No. 1 seed has earned to host regional games, but it mitigates costs and reduces the travel burden on participating teams by flying only half of the bracket to the No. 1 seed. The other half of the bracket would be played at the No. 2 seed’s campus.

The Presidents Council affirmed the policy in a February 19 conference call after concerns had been raised from at least one institution in the West region, as well as from Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who in a letter to NCAA Division II Vice President Mike Racy said the contingency plan unfairly targets institutions in lightly populated regions.

Palin referenced an example in which the plan could be applied in this year’s Division II Women’s Basketball Championship. Alaska Anchorage currently is the top seed in the West region and would earn the right to host the regional if that seeding holds up for the rest of the regular season. Since seeds two through eight would have to fly to Anchorage, however, the Division II Women’s Basketball Committee could implement the contingency plan that would divide the eight-team regional into two, four-team subregionals, one hosted by Alaska Anchorage and the other hosted by the No. 2 seed.

Palin and others claimed the plan affords a competitive advantage to the No. 2 seed and would apply uniquely to the West region.

The Alaska example is one of two hypothetical situations the Championships Committee reviewed as it deliberated better business practices for championship administration earlier this month. The contingency plan, if applied in both cases, would save more than $340,000 in travel expenses (including about $181,000 of savings in the Alaska example). Those savings in just one portion of one round of two championships would represent more than 2 percent of Division II’s entire budget allocated to conduct 25 national championships.

While the hypothetical situations were both in the West region, current regional rankings show the possibility of the contingency plan being in play in other regions as well.

Preliminary-round competition at a non-No. 1 seed also is not unprecedented. Division II in recent years has allowed California schools to play each other in regional rounds in tennis before traveling to Brigham Young Hawaii in years when the Seasiders were the No. 1 seed. The idea there was to help defray travel expenses for institutions (schools receive a per diem for regional play in the tennis championships).

Presidents Council Chair Stephen Jordan of Metropolitan State, in a written response to Palin, said university and college presidents involved in NCAA governance “have a unique fiduciary duty to manage divisional resources for all NCAA member institutions.”

“I can assure you,” Jordan wrote, “that the consensus of (the Presidents Council) is that Division II student-athletes are given unparalleled opportunities to advance to national-championship competition and that this decision is an appropriate action to take during today’s difficult economic environment.”

Jordan cited air travel expenses that increased 13 percent for the Division II men’s basketball tournament and 19 percent for the women’s tournament last year, putting both championships’ budgets in a deficit. Division II championship expenses increased by about 10 percent overall in 2008, even after implementing revised Association-wide travel policies to help contain costs.

“We cannot sustain this growth,” Jordan said in the letter to Palin. “As we have analyzed athletics expenses and, specifically, travel costs again this academic year, it is clear to the presidents and chancellors in Division II that we must take immediate action to help schools and the division use our resources in the most efficient manner.”

During the conference call Thursday, Jordan emphasized that the policy does not interfere with the structure of the bracket or the pairings (based on agreed-upon principles) that have been earned through regular-season competition and the overall experience that is provided for student-athletes. He and his presidential colleagues in fact praised the Championships Committee and its chair, David Riggins of Mars Hill College, for leadership in the matter.

“Members of Division II committees are charged with deliberating issues on the basis of what is best for the division as a whole,” he said. “The Championships Committee developed the contingency plan to protect the championship experience for student-athletes and provide a more fiscally responsible model.”

The NCAA’s Racy noted that the Championships Committee manages all Division II championships expenses under a preset budget per allocations from the Association’s media agreements with CBS and ESPN.

“The committee is mindful that reasonable accommodations and adjustments in travel policies that the group implements now might help strengthen the division’s financial position as we face future economic uncertainty and negotiate new media broadcast agreements,” Racy said.

The Championships Committee adopted the contingency plan on a trial basis for the rest of the academic year. The contingency plan may affect regional tournament formats in baseball this spring as well. Committee members will review whether the plan needs to be carried forth, tweaked or eliminated when the group meets in June.