Contrary to conventional wisdom, the Division II Conference Commissioners Association has concluded that good things do not necessarily come to those who wait.

Having decided that significant change is needed in the national promotion of Division II regular-season competition, the CCA has contracted with a Columbia, Missouri, firm -- Kelly Press -- to sell a corporate-partner package that is designed to bolster the Division II identity and provide extra revenue for participating institutions and conferences.

"I've been very encouraged that the commissioners have been willing to take a giant step forward with this program," said Bob Hiegert, commissioner of the California Collegiate Athletic Association and Division II CCA chair. "You can talk things to death, but you've got to make a move sometime to make things better, and the commissioners have certainly done that."

While the plan is big, at least by Division II standards, it is not complicated. Kelly Press will be obligated to sell a limited number of corporate sponsorships. Participating institutions in turn will support the CCA program through signage, public-service announcements, radio advertisements and other media. Half of the revenue from the corporate sponsorships will be distributed to the participating conferences and institutions, with the other half going to CCA scholarship and promotional initiatives, and the administration of the program itself.

While no sponsorships have been sold at this point, nobody needs a crystal ball to see what a $6 million corporate-sponsorship arrangement would yield. Among other things, it would mean revenue-distribution shares of up to $10,000 for participating institutions; a weekly national television program focusing on Division II; and more support for existing CCA programs, such as its scholar-athlete program and Tip-Off Classic in basketball.

In this age of multibillion television contracts, a $10,000 share seems almost quaint -- something akin to pocket change for a large Division I program with a $50 million annual budget. But in the Division II world, every dollar continues to matter.

"I can tell you what $10,000 would mean to schools in our conference," said Barry Blizzard, commissioner of the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. "The way we are created with financial aid, that could mean helping up to 10 kids with partial equivalencies."

The sales threshold for making such benefits possible is between $4.5 and $5 million, said Jim Johnson, associate athletics director for development at Central Missouri State University and assistant to the Division II CCA. As the sales figure grows, so also does program support and revenue-distribution potential.

So, the basic question becomes whether Kelly Press can sell what is required to make the program succeed.

Colin See, vice-president and general manager for Kelly Press, is seeking to sell three partnerships of $2 million each. To this point, he said the response has been favorable.

"One of the major corporations that's really hot on it found out about it when we sent it to a different company in their agency," See said. "The account rep at that agency thought so much of it that he passed it on to somebody else, who contacted us. That's happened a couple of times now. The fact that we're not having to contact some of these people, that they're coming after us, is a very good sign."

Those backing the program are candid, perhaps surprisingly so, about the challenges that face Division II institutions and conferences as they seek to market themselves nationally. The linch-pin idea behind the CCA concept is that Division II conferences and schools acting together have marketing power that far exceeds what they possess individually.

"Each of these institutions does not have a tremendous appeal to corporate America individually," See said. "It's a tough sell. They can do it in their local towns, but to spread that (more broadly)...becomes a daunting task. But if you bundle them together, you have a pretty attractive item."

While that may sound a bit minimizing for Division II, California Conference Athletic Association Commissioner Bob Hiegert doesn't take it that way. Speaking about a down-the-road concept of live television for Division II regular-season games, Hiegert said, "I really don't think a hard-fought battle between the South Atlantic region and the South region is going to draw anybody to watch it on the West Coast area, or any other region. It would be very specific to that region."

An example of Division II's regional orientation would be the success of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association basketball tournaments. The men's and women's CIAA events are huge commercial successes in the Southeast (see the October 27, 2003, issue of The NCAA News), even though they are not necessarily tracked on a national basis. Similarly, See said that Kelly Press has successfully marketed the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association's postseason basketball tournaments in the Kansas City region.

This program seeks to expand on those models by tapping into the collective power of Division II -- a notion that seems to be gaining traction. After 18 months of research and communication with the membership, See said that 230 institutions have indicated their willingness to participate on at least some level. Of the remainder, 15 have said "no" while 38 have yet to respond formally. Of the 38, 16 have indicated verbally that they are willing to take part.

The project has not been blindly accepted. Perhaps the most prominent friction has come from adidas, the shoe manufacturer, which sent a letter to Division II athletics directors warning them that the agreement could harm institutional fund-raising efforts.

Hiegert said that the CCA approach, contrary to the adidas claim, would help local institutions by providing a national platform for Division II messages.

"From the corporate-sponsorship world," Hiegert said, "there's a tremendous amount of lip service given by the sponsors that maybe they want to be a part of Division II, but not to the same extent that they are for Division I. If adidas or any corporation wants to get involved, they've got the opportunity; there's no preclusion of anybody."

That said, Hiegert noted that few Division II institutions currently have major corporate relationships. Thus, he said that conflicts with existing corporate programs are unlikely because they are so rare.

"In fact, in many situations this might help the case," he said. "If adidas, for instance, is a corporation that has some interest in this area, they now can collectively reach 283 Division II institutions and get the same story told across the board. But if they choose not to market that way and go after one or two programs, then there is a conflict. We're going more across the board to try to help everybody."

(The CCA program also raised questions about potential conflicts with the NCAA corporate-partner program. However, the conclusion has been that no conflicts exist so long as the initiative is limited to the regular season and is not portrayed as an NCAA initiative, such as through the use of NCAA marks.)

Blizzard, last year's Division II CCA chair, acknowledged that the program has required a hands-on approach with Division II athletics directors.

"Each commissioner has done presentations in their conference to try to head off these concerns," he said. "I've probably taken 20 calls from individual ADs who have specific concerns. What I've tried to do is simply assure them that we'll work with them if there is a problem, but that I really don't think there will be a problem. And they seem to go along with that."

In fact, what skepticism does exist among ADs does appear to come from communication issues. In the absence of an outright presentation about the program, many ADs have been left to wonder if there is more to the program than is being portrayed, if participation will result in financial exposure, and if the conditions of participation will cause a conflict with their existing corporate alliances.

In response, Blizzard provides reassurance on three key points:

No institution or conference will be required to post any money up front.

Institutions can participate on a limited basis.

The amount of work for participating schools will be limited.

"Basically," Blizzard said, "they're going to have to hang a sign. Those who agree to do it would have a radio drop-in, which we would prepare for them. They would do a program ad, which we would prepare. They could put a link on their athletics Web site, and they could do some type of insert piece in their alumni mailings or mailings to season-ticket holders, whichever they choose -- or they could choose not to do either one. It's very user-friendly. We would give them everything they need and just ask them to do it."

Johnson said that if all goes well, announcements of partners could be made during the November Tip-Off Classic, with the program being implemented by next January. That outcome, however, assumes no complications along with the way.

In the meantime, Johnson and others want the membership to understand that the program is properly motivated.

"The CCA is really doing this as a good citizen of Division II to try to be the vehicle that really does something neat that significantly promotes Division II as a whole," he said. "They aren't trying to get rich off of this."

Blizzard agreed, saying that the purpose has much more to do with service than largess.

"I view the CCA as providing service to our institutions and conferences," he said. "We look at this piece as a way of enhancing what we're trying to do to help our institutions. It's definitely not a piece to enhance the CCA. Instead, it's just to give us the ability to do more for the people we serve."

Hiegert said that he also hopes that the Division II membership can focus on the big picture.

"An individual institution might not be a direct recipient of a postgraduate scholarship or an academic award or have a team invited to the Tip-Off Classic," he said, "but the division is gaining -- somebody in the division is gaining, and eventually all will be part of that.

"That's a pretty healthy outlook on the division by the commissioners. This is the best thing that we can be doing to try to get all of the programs elevated. This program really gives us that opportunity."