Almost every business, company, organization -- almost every person -- was affected either directly or indirectly by the terrorist attacks September 11 in New York City and Washington, D.C. The NCAA is no exception.

In the days immediately after the tragedy, many athletics contests were canceled or postponed, meetings were cut short or delayed, and athletics administrators scrambled to get answers to a myriad of questions regarding safety, scheduling and travel.

Since that time, other issues have arisen about NCAA operating policies and procedures. Though seemingly trivial compared to the challenges facing all Americans because of the tragedy, athletics administrators still have to address what to do about the fall playing season, postseason play, recruiting calendars and numerous other situations that may warrant a waiver of the normal application of NCAA legislation.

NCAA groups have rallied to answer some of those questions, while other issues continue to be deliberated. Following is a summary of what has been determined to date that might assist member institutions during this fall sports season.

Business/budget

"While we are currently exploring about 10 different funds, our intent is to move cautiously and hope that consolidation occurs," Lawless said.

One option the committee has discussed is possibly establishing a scholarship fund for former and current NCAA student-athletes, specific family members of the firefighters, police officers and emergency medical technicians who died during the World Trade Center tragedy, and the military, civilian staff and contract personnel who died during the Pentagon tragedy.

The Executive Committee's budget subcommittee will determine where the $5 million will come from in the Association's budget. Lawless said some of the funds could be recouped from cost-savings measures related to committee travel. The Executive Committee already approved measures at its meeting in August to reduce committee expenses by establishing a list of approved properties and city destinations based on airfare, ground transportation and hotel costs. But the Executive Committee believes other measures could be implemented, such as conducting selected meetings or seminars via telephone conference or over the Internet that could save the NCAA an additional 15 percent.

NCAA President Cedric W. Dempsey, in fact, already has encouraged the national office staff to explore reducing airline travel through at least March 31, 2002. Staff liaisons have been instructed to consider the use of technology or other means to conduct selected committee meetings and manage the business of the Association.

Safety issues

At the University of Michigan, which houses the largest college football crowds in the country, school officials asked the Federal Aviation Administration to ban flights over Michigan Stadium for the Wolverines' September 22 game with Western Michigan University. The FAA not only granted Michigan's request, it established a no-fly zone for all football games. The restriction, which is in place until further notice, banned all aircraft from flying within three miles of major professional and college sporting events and any other large open-air gathering. The no-fly zone extends up to an altitude of 3,000 feet and applies to all types of aircraft, including small planes, blimps, balloons and gliders.

The FAA restriction is something schools such as Michigan have been wanting for a long time. Michigan Associate Athletics Director Mike Stevenson told The NCAA News last March that small planes dragging advertisement banners make as many as 70 to 120 trips overhead during the course of a game and are not only a nuisance but a safety concern. The FAA proposed last spring to allow for a temporary no-fly zone to be declared for "major sporting events," and those regulations are scheduled to become law October 11. But the FAA's latest ban renders those regulations moot for the time being.

"From all the e-mails I received after the game, fans certainly felt reassured," Stevenson said. "People were concerned before the decision was made, but thankfully the FAA acted, and the response at the game and afterward was one of gratification."

Stevenson said even if the FAA lifts its blanket ban in the near future, the new regulations will afford schools the opportunity to apply for a temporary restriction, even though the regulations do not specify college football contests under "major sporting events."

"The law leaves open to interpretation college football games as those types of events," he said. "But it does say large open-air events, so I would think schools could petition on a per-game or annual basis for the temporary flight restriction."

There were tighter restrictions on the ground, too. At the University of Notre Dame, officials ceased the traditional Friday stadium tours on football weekends until further notice. And for the Fighting Irish's clash against Michigan State University September 22, spectator bags were subject to search, and no cans or bottles were allowed in the stadium. More uniformed personnel also were on hand. Even Friday's pep rally was more secured. Similar measures were carried out on other campuses as well.

While security measures for regular-season games are under the purview of individual institutions, the NCAA staff is reviewing event-management security issues pertaining to NCAA championships to see if updates are necessary. Security measures were tightened in 1991 during the Gulf War, but the need to implement stricter measures is still under review.

Travel

Commercial air travel is just now beginning to resume, though most commercial airlines have drastically reduced their schedules. Most football teams, however, travel by charter, which does not seem to be reeling as much as the rest of the industry. In some ways, in fact, the usual stress on arranging for charter flights may lessen as more aircraft become available and jet fuel prices decrease.

"The charter industry is going to stay pretty healthy," said Karen Larose of Worldtek Travel, which handles travel arrangements for NCAA championships, as well as regular-season travel for many institutions. "Because there is so much jet fuel available, the price of fuel has gone down, and because the major airlines have cut 20 percent of their schedules, this leaves more aircraft available for charter use."

Larose said one inconvenience that even charter travelers can expect, however, is that tarmac boarding is being restricted, at least at larger airports. Before, teams could be bused in for loading, but now they will need to check in to the terminal.

And while Larose expects the airline industry to regain at least some momentum by the fall championships season, she said sports travel should remain strong simply because it has to. Even for smaller squads, such as soccer and volleyball, which use mostly commercial flights for postseason travel, flights should be there.

"Last fall, we had a difficult time finding even 10 seats on a plane, let alone 22," Larose said. "But in this case, sports is almost recession-proof. You have to move people to compete. So while everybody else is cutting back, sports can't."

Playing seasons

The subcommittees have not determined that relief is appropriate beyond the one-week extension, and those requests will be decided on a case-by-case basis.

Championships

The Division I-AA Football Committee so far is the only group to move its championship. The four-week tournament now will begin December 1, with quarterfinals December 8 and semifinals December 15. The championship game is now slated for Friday, December 21, at Max Finley Stadium in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The game will begin at 5:30 p.m. Eastern time and will be carried live on ESPN. As a result of the schedule change, November 24 becomes available as a date of regular-season competition for games that may have been canceled the weekend after the attacks.

"Given the circumstances, we did the best we could," said Dennis Thomas, athletics director at Hampton University and chair of the I-AA Football Committee. The championship game originally had been scheduled for Saturday, December 15, at 8 p.m. on ESPN, but the same window a week later was not an option for the cable network, since most sports programming is scheduled weeks or months in advance. That left the committee with no other television option than Friday night, which goes against a position the NCAA encouraged member institutions to take earlier that reserves Friday night for high-school games.

In this instance, though, Thomas said, the date in question was late enough that all regular-season high-school games and even most postseason contests will have been played. Thus, Thomas said the committee was able to maintain the integrity of the championship without compromising high-school football.

"Most rational and fair-minded people would understand the circumstances we were presented with," Thomas said. "We dealt with them the best we could."

In Division I-A football, the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet's Football Certification Subcommittee determined that teams that were unable to reschedule canceled games and could play only a 10-game season would need five wins to be bowl-eligible. The group still is deliberating bowl-eligibility decisions regarding instances in which 5-5 or 6-5 teams have counted a victory over a Division I-AA opponent (allowed once in four years) toward the minimum-win requirement.

As for other fall sports, the Division I Women's Volleyball Committee has moved its selection show from Sunday, November 25, to Monday, November 26, to allow institutions to play regular-season matches on the 25th. However, the committee has said is does not intend to alter any postseason playing dates.

The Division I Women's Soccer Committee also has moved its selection show from Sunday, November 11, to Monday, November 12.

The NCAA membership services staff is in the process of collecting information from Divisions I, II and III conferences on the impact the tragedies may have had on any sport. Once that information is compiled, sports committees will have the opportunity to recommend changes. However, institutions and conferences are being encouraged to reschedule contests within the regularly scheduled playing seasons, if feasible. But per the previously noted blanket waiver, institutions will be provided flexibility in playing and practice seasons in an effort to allow for a full season of competition, if possible, regardless of possible changes in championship dates.

Recruiting calendars

The Division I Administrative Review Subcommittee has issued a blanket waiver to extend the current contact periods for both men's and women's basketball for a total four days. The waiver is meant to accommodate recruiting opportunities that may have been lost from September 11-15 and is not intended to increase the number of contacts an institution may have with a prospective student-athlete. With the waiver, the women's basketball contact period will end October 3 (previously September 29) and the men's will end October 9 (previously October 5).

Waivers

In addition to scheduling, recruiting and playing-season issues, numerous other situations arose after the attacks that may warrant a waiver of the normal application of NCAA legislation. "Each divisional entity is prepared to address those specific situations through the already established waiver processes," said Kevin Lennon, NCAA vice-president for membership services. The membership services staff has compiled a comprehensive (but not exhaustive) list of examples on NCAA Online (www.ncaa.org). The list in the Legislative Services Database (LSDBi) includes bylaws that may have relevance, the applicable waiver route and the group that handles those waivers. Institutions should note that unless the waiver is specified as a blanket waiver, approval is required through the established waiver procedures.