The Division I Championships/Sports Management Cabinet used its recent meeting to talk about revenue and business-strategy opportunities via NCAA championship platforms.

At the February 17-18 session in San Antonio, Greg Shaheen, NCAA senior vice president for basketball and business strategies, engaged cabinet members in a discussion about ways to facilitate the following priorities:

•         Continue efforts to thoughtfully build NCAA championships.

•         Actively participate in the creation of a platform that will allow the NCAA to ensure that its championships benefit from the transition to new forms of media and be a resource for member institutions and conferences as they forge their own new media strategies.

•         Continue to develop new asset strategies that can diversify revenue streams for the Association.

•         Continuously review policies with an eye toward challenges likely to be created in a new media environment.

•         Increase the convergence of principled support between the NCAA and its corporate champions and partners.

“Our top interest as a cabinet is to ensure that the championships provide the best experience for student-athletes and fans,” said cabinet Chair Jeff Schemmel, the athletics director at San Diego State.

Cabinet members also talked about ways to enhance the overall quality of championships, including financial and operational components. They are particularly enthusiastic about a new Web-based Championships Performance Standards Survey that was implemented with the fall championships as a tool to help monitor quality and measure improvement in championships operations.

The survey queries student-athletes and other key participants (for example, coaches, administrators and host institutions) about seven major categories common to all championships:

•         Site selection/host responsibilities

•         Facilities and equipment

•         Travel accommodations

•         Selection, seeding and bracketing

•         Championships atmosphere

•         Game management

•         Student-athlete recognition and uniqueness

The NCAA championships staff will review results and share best practices with NCAA sport committees and the cabinet.

Travel issues

In another agenda item, cabinet members learned that fall championships travel costs increased by a modest 3.6 percent when compared to the 2007-08 academic year.

Last September, the cabinet endorsed a plan to reduce travel expenditures by implementing changes such as increasing the travel-policy mileage limitation from 350 to 400 miles and increasing the ground commute to the nearest airport to the championship site from 120 to 150 miles.

Commercial airline travel was reduced by 19 flights when compared to last year. Sport committees also contributed to the efficiencies by using the mileage software that was developed by NCAA Internet technology staff as a resource during bracketing.  

While travel costs were reduced for the fall championships, the cabinet will closely monitor the situation for the rest of the upcoming winter and spring championships.

“We are still approaching this with caution,” said Schemmel. “We will withhold judgment on these new initiatives until the end of the academic year.”

Cabinet members want sport committees to be aware of travel issues while continuing to ensure competitive equity.

“We want to seed teams in a way that is fair to everyone,” Schemmel said. “That means the top seeds remain top seeds. We don’t want to succumb to the temptation of simply taking teams that live in the same geographic area and putting them in the same tournament venue regardless of their seed. We want to stay consistent with our philosophy.”

In other highlights from the cabinet meeting, members:

•         Approved a recommendation from the women's golf committee to add three teams to each of the three regional sites effective in 2009-10.

•         Reviewed a presentation from NCAA staff on an enhanced championships bid/site selection process. The bid process is expected to be conducted biannually beginning in January 2010, and will seek to attract and award bids in two-year cycles. The uniformity of the new bid cycle is expected to make prospective hosts more aware of bidding opportunities.

•         Agreed to develop a new mission statement and guiding principles. Cabinet members provided feedback and a smaller group was charged with drafting a document for the cabinet to consider during its next meeting.