Information below is supplied by NCAA Communications on its
new NCAA Football Media Center resource page on NCAA.org. The information is for all Division I, II and III football programs.
The note below was sent to all conference communications directors by Erik Christianson, NCAA Director of Public Relations and Media Relations.
Conference Colleagues:
As football media days get underway around the country, we wanted to provide you with important background on key issues in the sport and overall in advance of the 2011 season.
We have created a
new football resource page on NCAA.org that will include additional information and regular updates leading up to and during the season.
For your immediate use below is background should you have questions from media on these topics in the days ahead.
As always, let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks, Erik
Erik Christianson
Director of Public and Media Relations
National Collegiate Athletic Association
BACKGROUND FOR 2011 FOOTBALL MEDIA DAYS
Presidential retreat to examine key issues in college sports
· NCAA President Mark Emmert will meet with approximately 50 Division I presidents and chancellors Aug. 9-10 to vet issues affecting the collegiate model of athletics and discuss direction for the division for the coming years.
· The retreat will focus on three overarching areas identified by President Emmert:
o continued expectations for student-athlete academic success
o fiscal sustainability in Division I
o fortifying the integrity of the enterprise.
· Retreat participants will engage in collaborative breakout sessions, and discussions will drive the high-level priorities and appetite for change on these topics across the group.
· The retreat has been in the planning stages for several months and is not the result of specific incidents that have occurred recently at NCAA member schools.
· Current members of the Division I Board of Directors and the Presidential Advisory Group (which includes presidents and chancellors from conferences not represented in the 18-member Board of Directors) have been invited, as have the chairs of the Divisions II and III Presidents Councils.
· Other presidents and chancellors with valuable perspectives along with commissioners, athletics directors, faculty athletics representatives and a senior woman administrator have been invited.
· Although the retreat is closed to the media and general public, the NCAA will provide timely updates to both membership and the public during the retreat.
· Visit
HERE for additional background and updates on the presidential retreat.
Members consider full cost of attendance
· There is interest in the Division I membership to allow institutions to provide athletics scholarships that cover the “full cost of attendance” for student-athletes.
· The difference between the benefits of a full scholarship (tuition/fees, room/board, books) and one that covers cost of attendance has been estimated at an average of $2,000-$5,000 per student-athlete per year.
· Cost of attendance is determined by each college or university’s financial aid office, under federal guidelines, and includes tuition and fees, room and board, books and supplies, transportation and other expenses related to attending college.
· NCAA President Mark Emmert has said he wants to discuss options for how to best meet student-athletes’ needs without paying them salaries.
· Any plan to increase financial aid limits would require legislative approval from the full NCAA Division I membership. At this time, no formal proposal has been presented. Schools can provide cost of attendance for student-athletes now using non-athletics financial aid.
· In addition to athletics scholarships, thousands of student-athletes benefit from academic scholarships and need-based aid such as federal Pell Grants and the NCAA student assistance funds.
· These funds help student-athletes beyond what their scholarships provide and offer direct benefits to student-athletes needing financial assistance.
· Generated from the NCAA’s contract with Turner and CBS, these dollars are provided to conference offices and distributed at the campus level. They can be used for emergency personal expenses, travel (such as to visit a sick family member), or clothing needs.
· In the 2009-10 academic year, NCAA Division I conferences shared a total of more than
$53 million in these funds<http://catalog.proemags.com/publication/0affe96d> (previously known as the Special Assistance and Student-Athlete Opportunity funds).
· These funds are now combined and will rise to more than $73 million by 2012-13.
New rule aims to boost APRs for football
· New Division I legislation requires football players to earn more credit hours starting this fall to maintain full eligibility for the following season.
· The new rule takes effect Aug. 1 for football student-athletes in both the Football Bowl Subdivision and the Football Championship Subdivision.
· The rule requires players to earn nine credit hours in every fall term or be suspended for the first four games the follow ing fall. If the student-athlete earns 27 credit hours before the start of the next fall, he can (once in a career) earn back all four games. For the remaining seasons, he can earn back two games if he earns the 27 credit hours by the end of summer session.
· The rule is designed to address declining eligibility rates in football. Research indicates that football student-athletes who earned at least nine credits in the fall semester of their freshman year and continued into the spring semester were more than twice as likely to graduate within five years as those who did not earn those credits in their first year.
· While the overall four-year Academic Progress Rate for football rose two points for the most recent year to 946, the latest one-year APR data show that football declined from 949 to 947. Measured separately, eligibility dropped from 939 to 937. However, when the Football Bowl Subdivision is isolated, eligibility dropped from 943 to 939.
Task force examines NCAA role in bowl licensing
· A new task force appointed by NCAA President Mark Emmert is reviewing the
licensing procedure for Division I bowl games.
·
The NCAA Division I Bowl Licensing Task Force will examine several areas, including governance and oversight by bowl sponsoring agencies, conflict-of-interest rules and policies, advertising and title-sponsorship standards, and the oversight and reporting of financial management of bowl games.
· In order for the task force to complete its work, the Division I Board of Directors earlier this year approved a three-year moratorium on new postseason football bowl game licenses.
· The Task Force will report its recommendations to the Board and Emmert no later than October.
Rules changes to penalize unsportsmanlike conduct, enhance player safety
· New rules that take effect for the 2011 season are designed to penalize taunting and enhance player safety.
· Players who make a taunting gesture to an opponent on the way to scoring a touchdown will be penalized, and the flag would nullify the score and penalize the offending team 15 yards from the spot of the foul.
· Penalties for dead-ball misconduct fouls (for example, unsportsmanlike behavior after the player crosses the goal line) continue to be assessed on the ensuing kickoff or the extra point/two point conversion attempt.
· This will be the first year of the rule change regarding unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, which will be treated as either live-ball or dead-ball fouls. Previously, all fouls of this kind were treated as dead-ball fouls.
· In another rules change beginning this coming season, blocking below the waist will be illegal except on scrimmage plays in the following instances:
o Wide receivers more than seven yards from the center at the snap of the ball can block below the waist only against a player facing him or toward the nearest sideline.
o Running backs/receivers in the backfield and outside the tackle box (the area five yards on either side of the center) or players in motion can block below the waist only on players facing them or toward the nearest sideline.
o Players on the line of scrimmage within seven yards of the center are still allowed to block below the waist anywhere on the field.
· Another new rule that will be enforced is a 10-second rundown of the game clock if a team commits a foul that stops the clock in the final minute of both halves.
· Another rule for this season allows video monitors to be used in the coaches’ booth to help determine whether a team should request an instant-replay challenge. Only a live broadcast of the game will be allowed (that is, no editing/rewinding capabilities). If monitors are installed, the home team must provide the same equipment in both coaching booths.