The NCAA Division III staff has created this bi-weekly communication for the Division III membership to provide up-to-date communications on recent Division III governance meeting discussions and outcomes. Please share this communication with your campus and conference colleagues.

Championships Committee, March 19
Budget enhancements. The committee will recommend Management Council amend Bylaw 31.3.1.1 to establish an access ratio of 1:6.0 in team sports effective for the 2024-25 academic year. The committee also recommended per diem and host per diem increases for FY25 to FY28.

Selection criteria database. The committee will recommend to Management Council that the NCAA Power Index (NPI) be adopted as the selection metric for selecting non-automatic qualifiers for the championship field for Division III team sports effective for 2024-25 academic year.

Championships webstreaming enhancements. The committee engaged in a discussion on ways to increase the Division III championships webstreaming on ncaa.com beyond the current semifinals and championship games. It directed staff to survey sports and athletics communication directors on campus and at the conference office. The committee will review the survey results at a future meeting and discuss next steps.

Short form video proposal. The committee received an update on an initiative that would provide institutions with resources to enhance fan and alumni engagement by using AI to automatically cut and produce video highlights for its student-athletes. The committee supported continuing to explore this concept.

Officiating fees. The committee is recommending officiating fee increases for all sports and individual sport requests from women’s volleyball, indoor and outdoor track and field, wrestling and tennis effective with 2024-25.

Individual sport requests.
Men’s golf. The committee supported increasing the men’s golf championship by a variable number of selected individual participants depending on the number of selected teams so that twosomes are eliminated to improve the scheduling efficiency.

Women’s golf. The committee supported increasing the women’s golf field size from a maximum of 31 teams to a maximum of 34 teams.

Wrestling. The committee supported increasing the wrestling field size from 180 to 210 participants, including the addition of a seventh regional site.

Men’s and women’s tennis. The committee supported the proposal to remove the practice day between the team finals and the start of individual competition. (The individuals practice day will now occur on the same day as the team championship matches.) Additionally, that the individual portion of the men’s and women’s tennis championships be conducted over four days.

Men’s basketball. The committee supported a joint men’s basketball championship in 2026.

Women’s ice hockey. The committee supported a predetermined site pilot for the 2025 and 2027 championships.

Administrative Committee, March 20
Discussion topics. The committee discussed the division’s strategic priorities for the coming year with a focus on the current outside reviews of the division’s finances and Enrichment Fund programs and grants, the on-going review of the division’s transfer regulations, Name, Image and Likeness, and planning for the next budget cycle (FY25 and FY26).

Financial Aid Committee, March 20
Confirmation of selection criteria. The committee confirmed the selection criteria to be implemented for the 2024-2025 review cycle. There are no changes.

Membership Committee, March 21
Regional Rules Seminar livestreaming. The committee will request SPFC consider annual funding to provide a livestream option for the annual Regional Rules Seminar. The livestream will not replace the required one in three-year attendance requirement, but, instead, it will allow for greater access  to the compliance education.

Division III new member process. The committee will recommend changes to the new member process: 1.) Moving the application date from Jan. 15 to Feb. 1; 2.) Required presidential attendance will be in the first year of provisional membership rather than requiring attendance in both the exploratory year and first year of provisional membership; and 3.) The criteria to waive the exploratory year will be incorporated into the standard for application for provisional membership. An exploratory year will be required for applicant institutions that do not meet the standard.

Championships selection criteria. The committee forwarded a recommendation to the Championships Committee to consider amending the championships selection criteria to allow provisional and reclassifying institutions to count beginning in the academic year following the institution’s attestation of full compliance with Division III bylaws including the institution attesting that no student participating in athletics has been awarded athletically related financial aid and their policies and procedures for administering the student financial aid program comply with Bylaw 15.

Strategic Planning and Finance Committee, March 25
Budget guidelines and principles. The committee reviewed a newly drafted document outlining the Division III budget principles to guide deliberations related to the potential use of funds allocated to Division III. The committee offered feedback and suggested that the Division III Championships Committee review the document as well, since many of the principles are related to championships funding. The committee will review an updated version during its June meeting, and pending committee approval it may be shared more broadly (e.g., with Division III governance and sport committees) to help ensure transparency in the division’s fiscal decision-making processes.

Budget planning. The committee approved, in concept, the championship budget enhancements [See Championships Committee updates] as well as several Enrichment Fund enhancements such as a flat rate for conference office travel in Tier I of the conference grant program, a one-time request to support officiating initiatives, inflationary increases for diversity programs and the NCAA Convention, and future initiatives for sports information/ athletics communication personnel and athletic trainers. In June, the committee will discuss one-time Enrichment Fund spend in the areas of championship webstreaming, short form videos, health and safety support and recommendations from Deloitte.

Enrichment Fund programs. The committee reviewed agendas, participant feedback and budgets of recently held Enrichment Fund programs.

Outside financial reviews. The Deloitte consultants provided an update on its review to date of the division’s finances based on interviews with multiple Division III stakeholders and data and research analysis. The review goals include identifying the division’s financial priorities, threats, and opportunities to improve revenue growth and making recommendations to reduce risk and strengthen the division’s overall financial position. Deloitte will continue its work by developing action plans for identified opportunities, including budget impact and revenue potential, and submitting a final report later this spring. The Deloitte findings will help inform the SPFC’s final budget recommendations in June.

The Lewis Rice consultants provided an update on the evaluation of the Division III Enrichment Fund. Lewis Rice has completed interviews with Division III stakeholders related to the division’s grants and programs and has reviewed additional requested data and information. The goals of the review are to assess whether the division’s grants and programs have identified objectives and if the objectives are being met. Further, the consultants will analyze if the grants and programs align with the division’s strategic priorities.. The consultants noted that a final report is expected later this spring.

Athletic Trainer Working Group, March 28
Discussion. The working group continues to develop and prioritize potential recommendations to address the areas of focus previously identified by the working group: workload, work life balance and culture and communication. Additionally, the working group will review feedback it collected from Division III SAAC.

Interpretation and Legislation Committee, March 28
Transfer regulations. The committee continued its discussion regarding the year in residence requirement for transfer student-athletes incorporating input from the Subcommittee for Legislative Relief and the FAR Advisory Group. In April, the Management Council will receive an update on the current review.

Nominating Committee, March 28
Governance and sport committee appointments. The committee identified individuals to serve on several governance and sport committees. Interested in serving on an NCAA Division III committee? Check out the current openings and click here for the nomination form. 

Presidents and Management Council rotation. With the adoption of Proposal 2023-7, effective Aug. 1, conferences will have one representative on either the Presidents or Management Council. The committee approved the a proposed rotation concept and will forward to the councils for final approval during their April meetings. Solicitation will begin in late April/early May to fill new council openings effective Aug. 1.

Athletic Trainer Working Group, April 10
Discussion. The working group anticipates creating an initial set of recommendations for the councils to discuss during their spring meetings.

The annual Division III Week will be held April 1-7. During the week, Division III will be donating $1 to Special Olympics North America for each new follower on Instagram and X, up to $10,000. And, on Mon., April 1, 3 p.m. Eastern, join us in celebrating Division III with a coordinated social media blast. We ask all members to post a celebratory Division III Week message at this time, using the hashtags #D3Week and #WhyD3.

 

With every communication, we also anticipate additional questions. Please send all questions to DIIIGovernance@ncaa.org. Thank you for your continued collaboration and leadership.