Bubble Watch: As Division I Institutions Zero In on Cost-Saving Measures Locally, Where Might the NCAA Save Money for all Division I Members?
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Bubble Watch: As Division I Institutions Zero In on Cost-Saving Measures Locally, Where Might the NCAA Save Money for all Division I Members?
In recent days, several Division I conferences collectively asked the Division I Council for relief from sport sponsorship requirements in part to decompress the financial pressures its respective schools are encountering in light of the pandemic.
Division I presidents, chancellors, faculty, and athletics directors alike continue wrestling with the rinse-and-repeat quandary as to when and how the fall academic term and fall sports schedules will begin. The only consistently reliable answer is that no one knows. In addition to a fog-ladened Fall 2020, athletic departments are simultaneously facing vaporized revenue streams.
With these present-day fiscal challenges understood, a timely question to pose is ‘What is the NCAA doing on a national scale to examine expenses and identify cost-savings opportunities for the whole membership?’
One area lined up for a forensic review of operational costs and re-examination of membership priorities are the NCAA Division I championships across all sports.
Over the next year, at the direction of the NCAA Division I Board of Directors Finance Committee, an NCAA Division I Council-led working group will conduct this review to give the membership a clearer and shared understanding of the driving factors of championships’ cost structure and priorities.
Any recommendations for NCAA bylaw and/or policy changes to enable funding of championships in line with the guiding principles of the review will be made to the Division I Council and Finance Committee. The working group’s guiding principles were outlined as follows:
As championships are a core function of the NCAA, outcomes of this review, including the execution of championships, should clearly reflect the Association’s pillars: academics, well-being and fairness for all involved.
As the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship is the primary source of funding for all championships and programming, it requires ongoing investment to maintain a quality production and experience for all involved.
The student-athlete’s participation in an NCAA championship should be the pinnacle of their intercollegiate athletics experience, which includes ensuring that all Division I and National Collegiate Championships are bracketed and conducted fairly as national championships and celebrate the student-athlete.
Agreed upon criteria shall guide financial investment of championships and should be informed by data, sport sponsorship and effective funds management.
NCAA championships will reflect the NCAA’s commitment to diversity and inclusion and student-athlete gender equity.
A model that allows for periodic review of championships is important for financial planning.
Participation in NCAA championship events requires cost-sharing with member institutions whose student-athletes participate.
The working group’s guiding principles will inevitably branch out into a deeper analysis of the scope, process, and steam behind Division I championships. This charge will include revisiting the access ratios and size of a championship fields in the context of the overall number of schools that sponsor each sport. As institutions have already started suspending certain sports or even eliminating sports altogether, there is a corollary between the total number of teams from which to select a championship field and the costs of running the championship.
Additional dynamics propelling the working group’s charge will include reviewing subdivisional field sizes that are set by a range, any gender equity impacts of concepts being considered, understanding the implications of automatic qualification process (whereby each Division I conference's champion earns an automatic bid to the field), bracket and field size, and potential changes to single-sport conferences.
NCAA championship costs are driven by travel policies, including per diem allocations and travel party sizes. Travel represents a primary cost escalator that many project to outpace the NCAA's championships' budget forecasted for the next several years.
To counter the costs, unearthing where additional revenue opportunities might exist will be a priority topic for the working group as well. And how those same potential revenue opportunities interface with the anticipated deregulation of student-athlete name-image likeness will be a key subplot.
Further, the ability for Division I institutions to host competition in the early rounds of NCAA tournaments (which does happen in many championships) before going to a neutral site for the championship’s semi and/or final competition carry cost-savings opportunities. As does regionalizing the early round competition pairings in NCAA championships to cut-down on air travel, hotel nights, and missed class time for the visiting team.
Today’s pandemic unquestionably crystalizes the urgency to save money here and now. However, this working group’s charge appears to pursue the long game in terms of solutions and purpose: namely, reaffirming Division I's core principles for hosting championships while ensuring efficiencies in championship operations and periodic financial stress-tests along the way.
The working group’s runway lends itself to an April 2021 target date for enacting any potential recommendations coming from the working group. Recommendations approved by the Division I Council and Board of Directors would begin to be implemented for the 2021-22 fiscal and championships years, noting that some items may take two years to fully implement (e.g., championship bracket changes).
The Division I membership will continue to expect superb stewardship of its championships without undermining the student-athletes’ overall championship experience.
With that in mind, this working group’s efforts over the next 12 months will be worth the eye of Division I campus leaders everywhere.
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.
