The NCAA News - News & Features

Ten cities invited to submit proposals for HQ site

The list of communities includes the metropolitan areas of Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Orlando, Phoenix and San Antonio.

The communities were identified by a working group of university presidents and administrators appointed by the NCAA Executive Committee, working with a staff project team and business location consultants from Arthur Andersen & Company.

Meeting in Overland Park, Kansas, August 1-2, the working group and project team evaluated the strategic needs for the future of the headquarters facility, discussed real estate alternatives that could enhance the Association's mission, confirmed the location-analysis criteria, approved an outline for the RFP and selected the communities that will be invited to respond.

Arthur Andersen is distributing the RFPs, and responses are due November 7.

Key criteria that the communities will be asked to address include:

* Air travel access.

* National and local recruitment of an ethnically and culturally diverse professional and support staff.

* Impact on the NCAA operating budget.

* Opportunities for the Hall of Champions as a significant destination attraction.

* Opportunities for adjacent or connected meeting and conference facilities at the headquarters location.

* Available sports facilities as potential sites for hosting selected NCAA championships in the headquarters community.

* Opportunities to further advance the educational mission of the Association.

"The staff project team has been working on this effort for more than a year, and the working group provided a very important and fresh membership perspective to the components we have considered as significant strategic alternatives," Cedric W. Dempsey, NCAA executive director, said. "As our review of the NCAA headquarters has progressed, our discussion has focused on four primary areas -- administrative offices, meeting and conference facilities, Hall of Champions opportunities, and opportunities associated with hosting selected championships in the headquarters community."

Dempsey said the distribution of the RFPs represents the next step in gathering information for the working group to review.

"Based on our analysis to date, we are satisfied that each of the cities selected to receive an RFP is a community in which the Association could operate successfully," Dempsey said.

The group is expected to review the responses in December. After the first of the year, site visits may be scheduled with the finalist communities. The Association anticipates a final decision by the spring of 1997.

Termed the NCAA 2000 headquarters project, the review and analysis was authorized by the NCAA Executive Committee in May 1995.

The committee charged the staff with exploring the broadest possible range of options for the headquarters, including the location of the national office. The Association's lease on its current headquarters site in Overland Park expires in 2000, and notice must be given to the building's owner by November 1998.