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.
Recent Governance Meetings - Key Discussions and Outcomes.
NADIIIAA and DIIICA Executive Leadership, Aug. 27 Meeting recap. The executive leadership groups met with NCAA staff, including President Baker, to discuss topics of interest and strategize on ways to best serve the membership. Key topics included playing rules, championships enhancements, legal updates, and the 2025 convention proposals.
Administrative Committee, Aug. 28 2025 convention legislation. The committee reviewed and approved in final legislative form the 2025 NCAA Convention legislative proposals sponsored by the Division III Management Council.
Noncontroversial proposals. The committee reviewed and approved, in final format, the following noncontroversial proposals approved in concept during the Management Council’s summer meeting. The committee’s action allows the proposals that impact the 2024-25 competition seasons for ice hockey and Nordic skiing, to be effective immediately versus waiting until after the Oct. Management Council meeting.
Playing and Practice Season - Ice Hockey - Preseason Practice - Elimination of Exception -- Off-Ice Training. The legislation eliminates the exception (17.14.2.1) that allows ice hockey teams to have off-ice practice sessions starting the first Monday in October.
Playing And Practice Seasons --Skiing -- Establish Start/End Dates For Nordic Skiing. The legislation establishes a playing season start date of October 8 and an end date of March 29 or the end of the United States Nordic Super Tour Finals, whichever occurs later.
Championships Committee, Aug. 29 Future championships sites. The committee reviewed and approved recommendations from sport committees for championship host sites in all sports for the 2026-28 cycle. The recommended approved sites are confidential until the official announcement in early October.
Men’s golf. The committee referred the men’s golf recommendation to amend NCAA Bylaw 16.8.1.1 (practice) for men’s golf to increase the mileage restriction and provide more flexibility for teams to practice at different courses and in different areas of the region to the Interpretations and Legislation Committee. The committee is requesting ILC to review the merits of the proposal, if it should apply to all sports, and if it should be processed through the governance structure as Convention legislation or as a membership-sponsored proposal.
Tennis. The committee did not support a tennis committee recommendation to amend Bylaw 31.3.3.1-(a) to require all tennis conference championships to be completed not later than 3 p.m. Eastern time on selection day (rather than the currently legislated 6 p.m. local time).
Upcoming Meetings and Anticipated Discussions.
Championships Committee, Sept. 8-10 Sport committee chairs. The committee will meet with the Division III sport committee chairs and discuss the role of the Regional Advisory Committee (RAC), sportsmanship, 2025 legislation, selection shows, NPI and the new bracketing principles for this year.
Sport committee reports. The committee will review several sport committee reports.
Hosting recommendations. The committee will review recommended non-predetermined preliminary round hotel policies for implementation. The concepts under consideration will be the location of the hotel (e.g., proximity to venue), maximum room rates, and hotel release policies.
Convention Planning Subcommittee, Sept. 17 Convention sessions. The subcommittee expects to finalize the topics for the Issues Forum and Division III convention programs and session topics.
Meeting agenda. The committee will meet in-person and in addition to its standard items of review (e.g., Divisions I and II legislative and interpretative actions), it will engage in the following discussions:
Name, Image and Likeness and what are/should be permissible institutional interactions.
The prohibition and potential deregulation of professional sports wagering with a focus on the health and wellbeing issues that should be considered/accounted for as part of the discussion.
Development of the 2025 Convention proposals questions and answers document.
Review of Bylaw 16 (Awards, Benefits and Expenses for Enrolled Student-Athletes) generally and whether provisions remain relevant for Division III.
Membership Committee, Sept. 19 2025 Convention legislative proposals. The committee will consider a position on a membership sponsored proposal to change the minimum number of member institutions required for conference membership from seven to six.
Sports sponsorship requirements. The committee will begin a review of the various components of the division’s sports sponsorship requirements.
Nominating Committee, Sept. 19 Meeting agenda. The committee will review the nominations for the January 2025 vacancies and a handful of immediate vacancies.
Resources.
NPI. The fall, winter and spring sports committees have set their dials. Click here for an updated FAQ. Sport-specific webinars for spring sports will be held on the following dates:
Softball – Wed., September 11, noon EST Join now
Women’s Lacrosse – Wed., September 25, 11:30 a.m. EST Register now
With every communication, we also anticipate additional questions. Please send all questions to DIIIGovernance@ncaa.org. Thank you for your continued collaboration and leadership.
This email was sent to NCAA Division III Presidents Council, Management Council, commissioners, directors of athletics and the NADIIIAA executive board based on contact information in the NCAA Directory.
