National Collegiate Athletic Association

NCAA News Archive - 2010

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Aug 11, 2010 1:30:38 PM

Division II's ambitious effort to map its long-term plans began Tuesday with a weighty review of budgetary, championships, programmatic and membership factors that will affect the division over the next 14 years.

What was noticeably absent was argument. Although the stakes are extremely high, the 12-person Long Range Projections Task Force quickly adopted the attitude that its primary responsibility is to make the Division II budget reflect the division's strategic plan and positioning platform. 

"Everybody in this room buys in to the Division II philosophy and principles, and if you start off with that basic foundation, then it's pretty easy to develop consensus," said chair Pat O'Brien, president of West Texas A&M.

It is far too early to determine the ultimate direction of the task force, which includes representation from each of the eight championships regions, along with key Division II committees and outside associations. Still, several discussions hinted at where the task force  might be going:

• Championships. The group quickly and unanimously agreed that championships are the division's top strategic priority. While that is hardly a surprise, the conclusion did affirm current practice. For the 2010-11 fiscal year, almost 60 percent of the Division II budget is devoted to championships expenses. Key long-term questions involve matters such as the size of traveling parties, bracket sizes and the managed growth of per diem allowances. The task force, which is looking as far out as 2023-24 (when the current NCAA media agreement will expire), also must assess how it will meet championships travel expenses without knowing how much, or when, fuel prices will increase.
• Funds that support the membership. The group directed most of its attention to the Enhancement Fund, conference grants and the Membership Fund. The division is expected to modify the Enhancement Fund so that 75 percent is distributed to conferences based on sports sponsorship, with the remaining 25 percent disbursed equally among all Division II institutions. Conference grants provide a specified amount to each member conference but with the requirement that the money be used in ways that support the Division II strategic plan. At Tuesday's meeting, members discussed whether the enhancement and conference grant funds should be apportioned differently to achieve even greater support for the strategic plan. As for the Membership Fund, the task force noted that money has accumulated from year to year as applications have been denied.Some task force members encouraged a review of the program to determine if it is meeting its objectives.
• Television. Division II will allocate $1.7 million in 2010-11 for regular-season and championships telecasts, with nothing budgeted thereafter. Although unallocated funds may provide the opportunity for future commitments in this area, important decisions must be made about regular-season broadcast support vs. championships. The task force also will weigh the use of alternative media, such as video streaming, against traditional television coverage over cable networks. Division II's agreement with CBS College Sports expires at the end of 2010-11.
• Membership growth. The topic is clearly top of mind with Division II leaders, who discussed capacity issues at the June Chancellors and Presidents Summit.The task force will be looking at models that project how institutional and conference growth would affect revenue distribution and championships access, among other things. Topics such as automatic qualification for championships likely will be considered, along with matters such as required conference invitations for membership applicants and possible new requirements for conference membership (the possibility of revised minimums and ceilings may be considered).
• Reserves. Current Division II budgeting guidelines mandate an average balance of at least $3 million. The task force agreed that a percentage of revenue would be more appropriate.

Although the meeting provided a promising start, an enormous amount of complicated decision-making remains. The Division II budget will expand at a rate of about 3 percent annually through 2023-24, which is about the traditional rate of inflation. That means that choices will have to be made about the degree of sacrifice that members will tolerate to achieve optimum growth.

Still, O'Brien is optimistic.

"The way in which we're going to fit it all together is by continually referring back to our strategic platform and to our strategic plan," he said. "As long as we use those as our overriding guiding principles, I think we'll be able to work through this fairly effectively and fairly quickly."

The timetable is ambitious. Task force conference calls will be scheduled for September and then for November or December. An educational update is planned for delegates at the January Convention, with a final in-person meeting planned for February. Throughout the process, relevant constituent groups will be consulted and feedback requested. Proposals will go to the Management and Presidents Councils in March.

"It's for the good of what Division II is all about," said task force member Karen Stromme, senior woman administrator at Minnesota Duluth. "People came here with that mindset, to figure out what direction we really want to go. I was very impressed.

"I always come out of a meeting like this feeling hopeful and inspired. You want to bring that enthusiasm back to your campus and your conference. This is what happens when people gather with the idea of making something better versus holding their own ground. This can be dramatic for our division, and I think we took a big step today."

Division II Long-Range Projections Task Force

Drew Bogner, president, Molloy College

Bob Boerigter, director of athletics, Northwest Missouri State University

Kathleen Brasfield, director of athletics, Angelo State University

Mickey Burnim, president, Bowie State University

Brenda Cates, faculty athletics representative, Mount Olive College

Rick Cole, director of athletics, Dowling College

Pat O'Brien (chair), president, West Texas A&M University

David Rankin, president, Southern Arkansas University

Julie Ruppert, commissioner, Northeast-10 Conference

Suzanne Sanregret, director of athletics, Michigan Technological University

Karen Stromme, senior woman administrator, University of Minnesota Duluth

Brian Swanson, director of athletics, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona