National Collegiate Athletic Association

NCAA News Archive - 2010

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May 20, 2010 8:27:51 AM

The Division I Men's and Women's Soccer Committees are recommending a joint men's and women's College Cup beginning in 2012.

The proposal heading to the Division I Championships/Sports Management Cabinet in September would stage both the men's and women's finals at the same site on the second weekend in December, the date formula currently in place for the men's final (the women's currently is a week earlier).

Under the proposed format, the women's semifinals would be played on Thursday, followed by the men's semis on Friday and both finals on Sunday.

The committees were considering the proposal for the 2011 College Cups but delayed the effective date to give women's teams in particular more time to make scheduling arrangements (since their playing season would be impacted) and time for Division I to change playing-and-practice-season legislation that would accommodate a later start date for women's soccer.

While the idea of a combined championship is not new for college soccer (Divisions II and III already do this), momentum for the change in Division I has been building as attendance and television ratings wane. Crowds for the men's final have exceeded 10,000 only once since the championship's heyday in Charlotte and Richmond in the 1990s when throngs of 15-to-20,000 were common. The women have averaged about 8,000 at their championship game.

The championships are under-performing on television, too. Ratings for the men's and women's finals on ESPN2 have been at 0.1 or 0.2 since 2003, and the estimated number of viewers for both genders has dropped since then, as well. That's not entirely surprising given that the soccer matches compete with NFL games that at that time of the year typically determine playoff participants.

But supporters of a combined soccer championship believe the resulting "festival" atmosphere of a joint College Cup would shape college soccer's two most high-profile games into one premier event that would energize the sport's fan base and make for an attractive broadcast package that would drive ratings and interest.

Likewise, they say more strategically targeted resources could be devoted to marketing, fan engagement and student-athlete experience in a combined approach. Additionally, the NCAA would realize operational efficiencies in terms of signage and fan fest operations. ESPN would benefit, too, since the cable network would need only one production set rather than two as in past years.

As good as all of that sounds, it has taken time for the Division I soccer community to get used to the idea. Two surveys conducted by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America earlier this spring, in fact, still showed about 80 percent of respondents being against it.

The men's and women's soccer committees, whose composition includes several college coaches, also expressed concerns when broached with the idea of such a radical format change two years ago, but after talking it through decided the combined championships might be a strategic boost for the college game.

"It may prove to be in the best interests of our two championships and for the sport itself," said Baylor Associate AD Paul Bradshaw, who chairs the women's committee. "We kept coming back to this as an event – does the combined approach have the chance to elevate the two separate championships into one event?

"We felt it was worth taking a chance. It's not like we are committing to this forever, but why not at least explore what we think is a reasonable option to grow our game? If this becomes the premier men's and women's soccer event in the United States that brings what now might be a fractured fan base together for one festival-type event, then why wouldn't that be worth pursuing?"

Men's committee chair John Diffley, a senior associate AD at St. John's (New York), also pointed to the joint College Cups as a way to showcase the sport.

"The primary benefit of the combined approach is that it creates a festival atmosphere and brings more people to one location, which drives attendance and TV ratings for both championships," he said. "That, in my mind, outweighs the concerns."

Evaluating the concerns

Those concerns include field conditions, since the wear and tear on the championship field would be greater with two tournaments rather than one. Poor weather would exacerbate those concerns, though weather is an issue even with the separate championships, especially in mid-December.

But perhaps of greater concern to coaches and others are the devilish details of how such an event would be staged and what affect it would have on the regular season in both genders.

Rob Kehoe, the college programs director for the NSCAA, says most Division I coaches realize that changes are necessary to energize their most coveted events. While coaches want to be part of the solution, they're uncertain about what that solution should be or what strategy the NCAA intends to employ to enhance the College Cups.

Among their concerns is how two sports previously on separate playing-season paths would interact on the same track. The identical date formulas could affect conference tournaments and NCAA preliminary-round games – especially for schools that typically advance both their men's and women's teams into the bracket (and who often host those early-round matches). They worry that the resulting logistics would place an undue burden on already taxed athletics staffs at host institutions.

Coaches also wonder whether a combined College Cup – as attractive as it might be – would diminish the identity or brand that each gender has worked to develop over time. Even if the events are held at the same site, the risk is that one gender's event might be perceived as more "marquee" than the other. An NSCAA survey of players revealed a similar sentiment.

Others speculate that the fan base being targeted may not necessarily transfer from one gender's championship to another, similar to other sports, such as men's and women's basketball.

That fan base may already be fractured, since many tickets at the College Cup go to registrants for the youth soccer showcase events for elite-level prospects held on the championship weekend. NCAA championship administrators have data showing that about 80 percent of the fans attending the College Cups are there for the youth tournaments. That manifests itself in smaller crowds for the college championship games after the youth teams and their followers have gone home.

While the College Cups likely will continue to embrace the youth tournaments – both because of their entertainment value plus the recruiting opportunities they present for college coaches – supporters of the combined approach say the college game nonetheless needs to be less reliant on the youth audience and cultivate its own crowd.

Kehoe said that's a concern that needs to be addressed, since the youth ticket sales eat into the championship-sustaining community sales.

Unanswered questions

Perhaps most curious to the Division I coaching constituency, though, is how unprecedented a combined Division I championship would be for a team sport. Soccer would be the first, in fact, if the proposal passes.

Kehoe noted that just recently, the Division I Men's and Women's Swimming Committee decided to keep those championships separated by one week even though they are typically held at the same site. While swimming is an individual/team sport, that committee's decision still resonated with the soccer coaches.

"The announcement of that decision also indicated that the opinions of the coaches were influential," Kehoe said.

At the same time, other individual/team sports such as tennis and track have experienced success under the combined umbrella.

Whatever happens, Kehoe said, Division I soccer coaches, players and others want to improve the status of college soccer's showcase events, particularly as they are compared to other Division I championships that are heralded as being successful, such as the Final Fours, the College World Series, the Frozen Four and the combined championships in men's lacrosse.

"However, we also realize that we have some unique challenges, and many ‘uncontrollables' such as weather, timing, and the selection of venues and communities that host the College Cups," he said. "Soccer coaches do not want to give the impression that they have any interests other than to be part of the solution when it comes to elevating the men's and women's championships, but there are still a number of questions to answer."

With the recent decision to delay the proposal to 2012, the committees are reviewing bids submitted for the 2011 finals and will determine sites for 2011 from that pool. Although those bids were based on the combined-championship format, the committees will award separate sites for the 2011 College Cups and retain the standard date formulas (first weekend in December for women; second for men).

If the proposal to proceed with the combined College Cups is approved, the committees will also use the current bid pool to select sites for the 2012 and 2013 championships, after which the combined approach will be re-evaluated.