The NCAA Division III staff has created this bi-weekly communication for the Division III Commissioners Association in an effort to provide up-to-date communications on the constantly evolving impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Division III membership. Please share this communication with your conference members.
The committee forwarded two FY21 budget reduction recommendations, due to the impact of COVID-19, to the Administrative Committee to act on immediately.
The elimination of national championship banquets.
Transitioning all sport committee meetings from in-person to virtual.
The committee identified three potential FY21 and beyond budget reduction recommendations from the nonbase budget "supplemental spend", that will be considered by the Strategic Planning and Finance Committee in June.
Elimination of local ground transportation - individual sports.
Elimination of local ground transportation - team sports.
Suspend pilot program to separate conference opponents in the first round of competition.
The committee discussed how the COVID-19 situation affects conferences serving part of a two-year waiting period or grace period and affirmed the following statements:
Waiting period statement. The 2020 spring semester may be counted toward a conference's two-year waiting period so long as the conference can demonstrate it would have had seven institutions that would have satisfied automatic-qualification requirements, including meeting sport-sponsorship minimums, and bur for COVID-19 would have competed.
Grace period statement. So long as a conference can demonstrate it would have met the criteria for a grace period year during the 2019-20 academic year, the 2019-20 academic year will count as a grace period year. An institution or conference may submit a waiver requesting an extension of the grace period to the Division III Championships Committee. [Note that the Championships Committee will review waiver requests on a case-by-case basis and determine if mitigation presented warrants an approval.]
COVID-19 Playing and Practice Season Working Group
To date, this group has held five weekly meetings. Key areas of discussion include disseminating and incorporating the Core Principle of Resocialization of Collegiate Sport; preseason requirements (e.g., physicals); and fall championships calendars and timelines.
Is the current calendar for fall championship events still in place? The working assumption of sport resocialization is that the current dates for fall championship events remain in place as scheduled. Governance committees and related staff working groups within each division continue to evaluate potential adjustments to practice and regular season competition schedules. Unless there is a resurgence in the pandemic, other medical and scientific complications, or widespread impracticality that dictates otherwise, the current plan is to continue with the fall championship calendar.
Since we are working with the current fall championship calendar, what considerations are being given to possible modifications in summer practice, preseason and the playing season? The COVID-19 Playing and Practice Seasons Working Group is an NCAA staff interdisciplinary group that is designed to assist the membership with evaluating challenges and considerations related to various summer, preseason and playing season issues stemming from the pandemic. This group is working closely with CSMAS and other membership committees in all three divisions. The objective of this staff working group and the membership committees that it supports is to move nimbly
and provide flexibility about the interpretation and application of legislation, policy and rules, while always properly prioritizing the premise of the health and safety of the student-athlete. In particular, the internal working group is liaising with the Prevention and Performance Subcommittee of CSMAS to solicit health and safety input in the areas of acclimatization, periodization and risk mitigation strategies for musculoskeletal injuries, in each case as they relate to the potential for truncated or otherwise adjusted summer/preseason practice and competition schedules.
Conference Grant Updates
Membership Dues (e.g., MOAA, NACDA, NATA, CoSIDA, Women Leaders in College Sports, WeCoach, etc.) are preapproved under Tier Three – Professional Development.
How to get an estimate for Conference Grant allocations for 2020-21.
Many conferences have reached out about how losing or adding members will change their Conference Grant allocations for the 2020-21 year.
In the conference grant app, within MyApps on ncaa.org, you can modify your institutions in the 2020-21 requisition form. The system will automatically calculate an estimate of the funding you could receive. When finished just change back to your current number of members. This is the most efficient way to figure out how the change in institutions will adjust your funding.
Tier Two Impact Form fixes to include one-time flexibility for 2019-20.
The grant administrator is currently working with the NCAA IT liaison to make a fix to the impact form/conference grant application. We are working on how we can accommodate this year’s flexibility of using Tier Two funding in Tier Three, and vice-versa, in the system and not prompt an error. Once a solution is found, the grant administrator will notify you.
Operational Expenses. A friendly reminder that operational expenses are impermissible per the policies and procedures.
Rollover Fund Plans.
Taken from the policies and procedures, a conference may retain unused funds in excess of $1,000 (beyond $301 in any single tier) provided that the conference submits a detailed plan, with the 2019-20 Impact Form, regarding how the excess funds will be used and the Strategic Planning and Finance Committee Subcommittee approves the plan.
Reminder. If you are looking to make a formal request to permanently change a current policy and/or the implementation of a new policy, you should coordinate the request with the D3CA Conference Grant Subcommittee.
This Frequently Asked Questions page is the first of many communications that will be provided to the NCAA membership as a follow-up to Core Principles of Resocialization of Collegiate Sport
. The Sport Science Institute anticipates releasing more information regarding athletics department considerations and the fall schedule on a regular basis. If you have questions, please send them to SSI@ncaa.org.
A discussion and examination of sport-sponsorship minimums.
An examination of contest and participant minimums.
Championships Committee, May 19
A discussion of contest minimums for championship eligibility.
Interpretations and Legislation Committee, May 21
Continued discussion regarding virtual recruiting.
Discussion regarding student employment in the athletics department.
With every communication, we also anticipate additional questions. Please send all questions to d3identity@ncaa.org. Stay healthy and safe and thank you for your continued collaboration and leadership.
This email was sent to NCAA Division III Commissioners Association
based on contact information in the NCAA Directory.
National Collegiate Athletic Association, 700 W. Washington St., Indianapolis, IN 46204 US
