Could Fans’ Fear of Returning to Sporting Events with Crowds Have an Impact on Division I Membership Requirements Next Year?
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Could College Sports Fans’ Fear of Returning to Crowded Sporting Events Impact a Division I School's Ability to Satisfy NCAA Membership Requirements?
For FBS Institutions, Possibly.
The NCAA announced last month that Division I sport sponsorship requirements in 2019-20--including the three-season requirement which mandates that institutions sponsor sports in the fall, winter, and spring seasons, and scheduling requirements related to the minimum number of contests played--would be waived in light of the COVID-19 maelstrom.
In light of the number of Division I sports teams that could not complete their winter and spring seasons, this blanket relief from normal application of Division I membership requirements made sense.
As Division I institutions continue managing the COVID-19 realities and potential impacts on what Division I athletics may look like in 2020-21, what other Division I membership requirements are looking like a stepper climb?
For Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) members, one that jumps off the NCAA membership requirements page is the football attendance requirement. Specifically, once every two years on a rolling basis, an FBS institution shall average at least 15,000 in actual or paid attendance for all home football games.
For purposes of computing actual attendance figures, an individual may be counted if any one of the following conditions applies:
Attendees are issued tickets that are collected on admission to the game and retained;
Attendees enter through and are counted by a turnstile that is monitored by a representative of the department of athletics who verifies in writing the accuracy of the count on a per-game basis; or
Attendees enter through a gate at which a representative of the department of athletics counts them individually with a manual counter, and the representative provides a written statement verifying the accuracy of the count on a per-game basis.
The ticket counting mechanisms are evolving in step with technology. Many Division I athletics departments handle their football ticketing operations via mobile platforms.
The requirements do allow schools to count tickets sold even if not used for actual admission provided ticket price ranges are met. The rules state that for purposes of computing paid attendance figures, tickets must be sold for at least one-third of the highest regular ticket price as established prior to the season, regardless of whether the tickets are used for admission. Tickets sold at less than one-third of the highest regular established price may be counted as paid attendance only if they are used for admission.
Student attendance also plays a key role in meeting the football attendance requirement. Student attendance may be counted as paid attendance if the student pays at least one-third of the highest regular established ticket price or if the student actually attends the game and any one of the following conditions applies:
The student paid an athletics fee;
The student paid an institutional fee of which a certain portion was allocated to the department of intercollegiate athletics; or
The student paid no athletics fee, but the institution allocated to the department of intercollegiate athletics a certain portion of tuition income or general operating funds as the equivalent of a student athletics fee.
Student attendance must be verified through one of the following methods:
Such students are issued tickets that are collected on admission to the game and retained;
Such students enter through and are counted by a turnstile (which is not used by others in attendance) that is monitored by a representative of the department of athletics who verifies in writing the accuracy of the count on a per-game basis; or
Such students enter through a gate (that is not used by others in attendance) at which a representative of the department of athletics counts them individually with a manual counter, and the representative provides a written statement verifying the accuracy of the count on a per-game basis.
Yet, simply because an FBS institution’s student is present for the game does not mean they count toward the 15,000 average. Student-athletes and cheerleaders scheduled by the institution to be at the game and students performing services at the stadium (e.g., concessionaires, ticket takers, parking lot attendants, ushers, groundskeepers) shall not count toward meeting the attendance requirements.
Ticket prices and attendance also factor into whether the home institution can utilize tickets sold to their visiting opponent against the attendance minimums. For an institution to meet the FBS attendance requirements, tickets for a football contest obtained by an institution through an exchange agreement or a purchase agreement with another institution may be used only if sold for at least one-third of the highest regular established ticket price and are used to attend the game. These pricing “floors'' can factor into how high an FBS institution’s ticket sticker price ends up, especially for schools struggling to maintain an average at or above 15,000 fans.
Procedurally, the NCAA requires the ticket sales numbers to be verified, too. An FBS institution must undertake an annual certified audit verifying its football attendance. The audited figures must be received in the NCAA national office not later than the February 15 following the completion of the season, and NCAA national office staff shall verify compliance with all the Football Bowl Subdivision attendance requirements. The certified audit and materials (including the ticket manifest) must be available for inspection for a four-year period.
Beyond the mechanics of the attendance requirement, the larger question relates to crowds and college sports fans' psyche coming out of this pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted expectations on what the likelihood of a college football season looks like for fall 2020. Attendance for college football games has been facing headwinds in recent years prior to COVID-19, including at this year’s bowl games. Even cornerstone, Power-5 conference schools with Heisman Trophies and National Championships in their gridiron pedigree are seeing more and more empty seats at home games.
This membership requirement is one to watch as it's a bellwether to a much broader and vital matter to college athletics----revenue. Are athletics programs hitting their revenue marks in the form of tickets and parking sales and games played and broadcasted?
The Division I Strategic Vision and Planning Committee is the Division I Committee designated to review and administer Division I membership issues including waivers of requirements like the minimum football attendance.
Since no one truly knows if college football will go on as scheduled this fall and, even if it does, what the crowds will look like, extending blanket relief to the FBS football attendance requirement for the 2020 season may be appropriate and needed more than ever. Longer term, whether maintaining the 15,000 two-year rolling average attendance minimum as a condition of FBS membership will be a fair question to contemplate beyond 2020.
Athletics Veritas is presented for information purposes only and should not be considered advice or counsel on NCAA compliance matters. For guidance on NCAA rules and processes, always consult your university’s athletics compliance office, conference office, and/or the NCAA.
