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The NCAA News - News and FeaturesThe NCAA News -- October 26, 1998
Management Council supports changes in exempted contests
Division I vote affects basketball, footballINDIANAPOLIS -- The Division I Management Council at its October 19-20 meeting voted to approve legislation affecting Division I schools' participation in exempted contests in basketball and football. The Council gave initial approval to Proposal No. 98-92 regarding exempted contests in basketball, which would allow schools the flexibility of choosing to participate in an exempted contest or adding a 28th regular-season game to their schedules. The legislation, which will be circulated to the membership for comment, would limit schools' participation in exempted contests to two certified events in a four-year period, with no more than one of those events being outside the continental U.S. The proposal emerged from the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet and is intended to permit institutions more flexibility in their game scheduling. In effect, the proposal would allow schools to choose between guarantees offered by exempted-contest sponsors or the additional revenue from adding a home game. The proposal also is designed to level the playing field between institutions that regularly are invited to participate in exempted contests and those that rarely participate in those events. The Men's and Women's postseason National Invitation Tournaments, events that are annual exemptions, are not subject to the provisions of the proposal. In football, the Division I-A members of the Council voted to give initial approval to Proposal No. 98-90, which would allow Division I-A football institutions to participate in a 12th regular-season game during years in which there are 14 Saturdays from the first permissible playing date through the last playing date in November (2002, 2003, 2008, 2013, 2014 and 2019). The proposal also eliminates annual preseason exempted contests after the 2002 playing season. Proposal No. 98-90 also will be circulated to the membership for comment. The Division I-AA Football Governance Committee tabled the proposal until its January meeting. Cabinet reports The Council acted on several items from the Division I cabinets, including Proposal No. 98-98, which is intended to allow Division I institutions more flexibility to meet minimum financial aid and sports-sponsorship requirements. The proposal received initial approval from the Council in July and was circulated to the membership for comment. The Council decided to give final approval to the financial-aid component of the proposal, but defeated the sports-sponsorship component that would allow schools to sponsor more women's sports than men's in order to achieve overall equity within an athletics program. It was the sense of the Council that the sports-sponsorship component of the proposal could have unintended consequences for some football-playing institutions and that deleting the component did not compromise the general intent of the proposal to provide for flexibility in allocating financial aid awards. The proposal, which has an effective date of August 1, 1999, will be forwarded to the Board of Directors for final approval. The Council also reviewed several items from the Strategic Planning Cabinet, including membership communication issues, topics for discussion during the Division I forum at this year's Convention and a format for future Conventions. The Council instructed its administrative committee to determine topics for discussion at the Division I forum, choosing from a list that could include an update on the restricted-earnings litigation, an analysis of the Division I budget, basketball and football issues and increasing financial aid grants for women's athletics, among others. The Council also agreed to appoint a subcommittee to begin a review of the new governance structure and report to the Management Council in January. Also from the Strategic Planning Cabinet's report was a recommendation to amend Constitution 2.6 regarding the Association's nondiscrimination statement. The Council approved the cabinet's recommendation to add language to the principle to indicate that the Association shall not discriminate against any person, including on the basis of age, color, disability, gender, national origin, race, religion, creed or sexual orientation. Because the proposal is dominant legislation, however, it will have to be approved by all three divisions at the 2000 Convention before becoming effective. The Council also reviewed the cabinet's recommendation to mandate and further define the senior woman administrator position. The Council agreed with the concept of adopting legislation requiring each institution to appoint a senior woman administrator but did not support the specific language submitted by the cabinet. The Council tabled the issue and charged its administrative committee with appointing a subcommittee to develop language addressing the Council's concerns and reporting back to the Council in January. Litigation The Council reviewed alternative methods for funding any expenses related to the restricted-earnings case in an effort to recommend a preferred method to the Board of Directors and Executive Committee in January. The Council adopted several wide-ranging principles regarding a possible method of payment that included a way to allow Division I institutions to receive the previously scheduled distribution in 1999. Other principles included the use of reserves to help pay any ultimate damages, a review of NCAA programs and services to identify savings that could be used to assist in any necessary payment, development of an allocation formula that would divide any remaining balance among Division I schools, and the possibility of long-term financing. The Council will forward those principles to the Board for review, with a request to expedite consideration of restoring previously scheduled distributions to assist schools that budgeted for those funds. Initial eligibility The Council heard a presentation from the NCAA research staff regarding initial-eligibility standards that focused on historical trends in enrollment and graduation rates, trends in initial eligibility and trends in high school and college academic performance. The Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet had recommended that the Management Council hear the presentation because it contained additional information in response to questions received after the four initial-eligibility models had been circulated to the membership. The Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet has endorsed model No. 1, which retains the current standards, but agreed to continue to conduct an ongoing review of the standards and their impact on the eligibility of high-school seniors. The Council took no formal action regarding the presentation or the review of the four initial-eligibility models. However, it was agreed that the Management Council chair would inform the Board of Directors of the tenor of the Management Council discussion and the various perspectives and comments of the members. Administrative/executive regulations The Council approved several administrative and executive regulations regarding Bylaws 30 and 31, including Proposal No. 98-124, which increases the basic accident-medical insurance for participating student-athletes in college football and basketball all-star games and postseason bowl games to an amount equal to the deductible of the current NCAA catastrophic-injury insurance policy. Other amendments passed by the Council involved the administration of certified exempted contests, including:
The Council referred Proposal No. 98-106 regarding summer basketball event and/or league certification to the Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet for further study. The proposal would prohibit any individual who has been found or pled guilty to sports bribery, point shaving or game fixing from having any involvement as an operator, staff member or participant in an NCAA certified basketball event or summer basketball league. The Council asked the cabinet to examine the necessity and the enforceability of the proposal, to address the concern that part of the proposal only applies to metropolitan areas in Nevada, and to provide a recommendation regarding how the certifying authority would obtain the information necessary to apply the legislation, as well as the confidential information indicating that the individual in question had been found by the Committee on Infractions to have committed a major violation of Bylaw 10.1. Other legislation The Council gave final approval to several items of legislation, including Proposal No. 98-99, which would require Division I conferences to establish a conference student-athlete advisory committee. Also receiving final approved was Proposal No. 98-100, which deletes for specified committees the requirement that no subdivision of Division I shall have more than 50 percent representation and to establish other subdivision representation requirements. The proposal is a compromise response to Proposal No. 98-33, which had recommended the elimination of the 50 percent requirement. The new proposal identified the following committee and was submitted to the Council in July from a Council ad hoc committee: Committee on Infractions -- no subdivision restrictions except that all institutional/conference members may not be from the same subdivision. Infractions Appeals -- no subdivision restrictions except that all institutional/conference members may not be from the same subdivision. Financial Aid -- seven members, four from I-A and three from I-AA/I-AAA. Baseball, Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball, Women's Volleyball, Men's Soccer, Women's Soccer and Women's Softball -- 10 members each, six from I-A and four from I-AA/I-AAA. The Council also had previously agreed to a three-year moratorium (after these recommendations are adopted) on changes in subdivisional-representation restrictions for Division I committees. Other legislative proposals gaining final approval from the Council that will be forwarded to the Board of Directors for adoption include:
The Council defeated Proposal No. 98-64, which would have specified that a federated or division-dominant provision that is amended with an immediately effective date shall become effective no earlier than the conclusion of the override period. The Council tabled Proposal No. 98-20, which would reclassify the men's Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classic (effective August 1, 1999) as an annual exempted contest requiring certification (as opposed to a once-in-four-years exemption), pending action on Proposal No. 98-92, which, if approved, would render Proposal 98-20 moot. Proposal No. 98-39, which would have permitted simultaneous telecasting or cablecasting of regular-season Division I-AA football games on Friday nights after 7 p.m., was defeated by the I-AA Football Governance Committee. Initial approval The Management Council also gave initial approval to proposed legislation, including two proposals in softball, one of which establishes a recruiting calendar in the sport (Proposal No. 98-49) and another that would establish a maximum limit of three contests that may be played in any one day (Proposal No. 98-93). The latter proposal also had specified that no contest could begin before 9 a.m. or after 11 p.m., but the Management Council amended the proposal to delete those time restrictions. Two proposals regarding committee representation also were approved for the first time. Proposal No. 98-96 would expand the Committee on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct by adding two currently enrolled student-athletes in an advisory capacity. Because the Committee on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct is an Association-wide committee, the proposal must be approved by all three divisions. The Council also approved Proposal No. 98-97, which relates to regional/district representation on sports committees with championships administration responsibilities.
Also given initial approval was Proposal No. 98-71, which would allow schools to purchase videotapes of opponents from individuals and/ The Council also amended and gave initial approval to Proposal No. 98-94 regarding outside competition in men's water polo. Other proposals emerging from cabinets that received initial approval were:
An additional five proposals were submitted by conferences for the Council's consideration and were referred to the appropriate cabinet for further review. [Reports on the Divisions II and III Management Council meetings will appear in the November 9 issue of The NCAA News.]
Other highlights
Division I Management Council
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