(Editor's note: The story has been edited since publication to correct an error regarding the basketball shot clock.)

The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel agreed this week to delay requiring Division III institutions to provide a visible backboard light in basketball and a wireless referee microphone in football until 2011-12.

PROP, responding to a request from the Division III Presidents Council to delay the requirements for one year, acknowledged concerns about the budgetary impact of those requirements in the current economic climate.

The basketball requirement initially was approved by PROP in 2006 for Divisions II and III, following a recommendation from the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Rules Committees, and the football requirement was approved in 2008 following a Football Rules Committee recommendation.

The wireless-microphone requirement was scheduled for implementation during the 2010 football season, and the requirement to provide a recessed shot clock and tenths-of-a-second display for the game clock and a backboard lighting system was set for the 2010-11 basketball season. Institutions that do not comply with the requirements after they are in effect would be ineligible to host NCAA championships competition.

“We believe this is a reasonable request, given the current financial situation and other issues outlined by the Division III Presidents Council,” said Don Tencher, director of athletics at Rhode Island College and PROP chair. “We also believe PROP has the authority to make this adjustment, as there is a financial impact involved.”

The Division III Presidents Council requested the delay after concern was expressed by the Division III Commissioners’ Association and also by institutional presidents representing individual conferences, which questioned whether the time is right to require Division III institutions to buy backboard lighting and microphone systems.

“The Council recognizes, based on research by PROP, that many Division III members appear already to be in compliance, or plan to be in compliance, by the 2010 implementation date,” wrote Presidents Council Chair Paul Trible in making the request for a delay.

“For those schools not yet in compliance, however, the current economic climate will make timely compliance much more difficult.... Money that many schools had budgeted to comply with the new rules either has been reduced or reallocated to more fundamental priorities. While we are all hopeful that the budget crunch will begin to ease during the next 12 months, the current 2010 implementation date seems especially challenging to schools that have not yet purchased the necessary equipment.”

Trible also noted a Division III membership requirement, effective in 2010-11, that institutions with at least 1,000 undergraduate enrollment must sponsor at least 12 sports (six for men and six for women) – an increase from the current minimum of 10 sports.

“We estimate approximately 30 schools are not yet in compliance with the new sports sponsorship standards,” he said. “For these schools, in particular, added costs associated with the rules changes in question come at an especially challenging time.”

Trible expressed appreciation for PROP’s action.

“This delay will permit greater time for schools to achieve compliance through the tough economic environment,” he said. “It also represents a strong and positive message of good will to our member schools as they attempt to fulfill their commitment to NCAA and Division III membership.”

PROP’s decision applies only to Division III institutions, based on the panel’s authority in rare circumstances to grant exceptions to implementation of rules due to financial impact within a division.

Division I has required backboard lighting in basketball since 2002-03 and Division II will implement that requirement during 2010-11. The wireless-microphone requirement becomes effective in both of those divisions during the 2010 football season.

PROP consists of 12 members representing each NCAA division who have experience with playing-rules administration as a coach, game official or former rules committee member.