Calling the move the "next logical step" for a maturing event, the Division I Baseball Committee wants to play the eight super-regional series of the Division I Baseball Championship at predetermined sites beginning in 2008.

The committee, which made the recommendation to the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet, believes selecting sites in advance for the best-two-of-three series involving preliminary-round winners will improve the student-athlete experience, encourage growth in fan attendance and enhance television coverage of the event.

Committee members, meeting July 25-28 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, agreed to use criteria similar to those currently applied in selection of the championship's 16 preliminary-round sites, including facility quality, local accommodations and financial guarantee. However, in a change of current practices, it proposes stipulating that super-regional hosts provide adequate power and lighting at their own expense to support telecasts of games, and also proposes increasing the minimum financial guarantee required to host that round of competition from $35,000 to $85,000.

The committee expects to recommend specific sites to host the super-regional series at the September 2007 meeting of the Championships/Competition Cabinet. Although the recommendation calls for selecting eight sites, the committee said it also is considering the possibility of scheduling two series side-by-side at one predetermined site, selecting a total of four sites. Under that format, both series winners from one site would advance to the Men's College World Series.

The committee also is exploring the possibility of playing super-regional games at noninstitutional venues, particularly modern minor-league baseball parks.

Committee members noted that predetermining sites helps ensure that ballparks will have appropriate dugout and clubhouse facilities and adequate field conditions and support personnel, and also permits making amenities such as indoor batting cages available to all teams participating in super-regional series.

Super regionals were introduced into the championship as part of an expansion to a 64-team bracket, and have generated fan interest to the point that ESPN and ESPN2 this year televised all 23 contests played in that round either nationally or regionally. The committee reported that those contests attracted more than 21 million viewers.

The committee, which has devoted significant time recently to strategic planning for the long-term growth of the Division I championship, increasingly is turning its attention to earlier rounds of the tournament after overseeing enhancements to the Men's College World Series that have helped produce attendance of more than a quarter-million fans annually at the Omaha, Nebraska, event and also helped generate championship net receipts approaching $2 million.

To generate further interest in hosting super-regional games, the committee is considering soliciting two-year bids from potential hosts, opening up the possibility to host that round of the championship in both 2008 and 2009.

Other highlights

Division I Baseball Committee
July 25-28/Colorado Springs, Colorado

• Agreed that umpires be required to agree to undergo a criminal and financial background check and receive a positive evaluation following that check to be eligible to work games of the Division I Baseball Championship.

• Recommended to the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet providing $7,500 stipends for umpire coordinators in Divisions II and III to fund expenses of evaluating umpires at those levels of play. The committee believes developing quality umpiring in those divisions ultimately will benefit the Division I championship. In another recommendation relating to umpire improvement, the committee recommended $15,000 in funding for umpire development camps, permitting an additional 25 participants.

• Recommended increasing the minimum financial guarantee required to host the Division I championship's first round of competition (regionals) from $35,000 to $50,000. The committee, noting that guarantees currently submitted by potential hosts range from $35,000 to $100,000 and are particularly attributable to the level of competitiveness to host games in a region, is seeking to reduce that gap.

• Recommended ranking all 16 top seeds in the championship, beginning with the 2007 championship, rather than only the top eight teams in the 64-team field. The action would bring the championship in compliance with Division I policy of seeding 25 percent of the bracket.

• Recommended that, when more than 50 percent of a conference's teams are selected for the championship, the committee be permitted to place more than one team from the conference in the same regional.

• Expressed opposition to a legislative proposal to reduce the maximum number of baseball contests from 56 to 52, and recommended that Proposal No. 05-91 be divided into two parts to permit separate action on recommendations from the ad hoc Division I Baseball Issues Committee, which the baseball committee supports.

• Recommended funding attendance at the committee's annual meeting by additional individuals, including representatives of the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, to discuss critical issues not directly related to administration of the championship. The committee is proposing that approach as an alternative to establishing a standing Division I Baseball Issues Committee.