National Collegiate Athletic Association

NCAA News Archive - 2010

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Jan 15, 2010 6:46:52 AM

ATLANTA − In addition to the 14 legislative proposals at Saturday's Division II business session, delegates also will consider two amendments-to-amendment, both of which could affect the Life in the Balance package.

Proposal No. 2010-5-1 would alter the proposed dead period from December 20-26 by allowing teams to travel on the 20th from an away game played on the 19th as long as that is the earliest practical opportunity to return to campus. The amendment from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference is designed to give relief to institutions in geographically challenged locations.

The Division II Legislation Committee opposed the amendment in December, but the Division II Administrative Committee (a panel composed of the chairs and vice chairs of the Presidents and Management Councils and an at-large member from the Presidents Council) two weeks later recommended that the Presidents and Management Councils take no position, which the Councils agreed with at their meetings earlier this week.

The Administrative Committee did not see the proposed amendment as detracting or differing significantly from the intent of the original proposal and thus saw a "no position" as appropriate. The Legislation Committee, meanwhile, thought the GNAC proposal introduced a gray area into a black-and-white issue (that is, seven days is seven days).

The other amendment-to-amendment comes from the Northeast-10 Conference and seeks to delay the effective date on a proposal to reduce the number of contests in field hockey.

The Northeast-10, which along with the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference contains about 80 percent of the schools that sponsor field hockey in Division II, wants to amend the effective date of the Life in the Balance proposal to shorten seasons and reduce games in fall sports because of where the 2010 National Championships Festival falls in the calendar.

Because of the festival, the 2010 field hockey title game is December 4, about three weeks later than usual for the sport.

The Administrative Committee did recommend that the Presidents and Management Councils oppose this amendment-to-amendment, noting that other sports had made adjustments in their schedules to accommodate previous versions of the festival and that giving field hockey relief would set an inappropriate precedent.

The Division II Legislation Committee also had opposed the measure earlier.