NCAA Offers Preview of Upcoming D-I Convention

The Division I Issues Forum this week kicks off a busy  stretch for the division and its committees centered around the 2022 NCAA Convention.

At the virtual Issues Forum on Wednesday ahead of next week's Convention, set for Jan. 19-22 in Indianapolis, Division I delegates will discuss potential changes to the NCAA constitution and the next steps for the division.

The Division I membership will hear from the Division I National Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, NCAA Constitution Committee and Division I Transformation Committee and get an opportunity to ask questions before the Association-wide Business Session on Jan. 20. Following the Association-wide Business Session, Division I members will meet at the Division I Business Session immediately after to vote on moving division-specific provisions out of the NCAA constitution to appropriate bylaws, as well as a piece of legislation related to maintaining current practices with revenue distribution.

The Division I Transformation Committee will begin its work following the business session to discuss with the Division I Board of Directors as to how to address the division's most significant challenges and more effectively support current and future student-athletes. 

Division I Council

The Division I Council is scheduled to vote on four proposals from the 2021-22 legislative cycle at its meeting Jan. 19. 

The proposals are:

• Revising legislation in women's basketball related to contacts and evaluations, telephone calls, official visits and the recruiting calendar.
• Reducing the number of recruiting person days in men's basketball from 130 to 100.
• Eliminating the option for a student-athlete or prospective student-athlete to sign a written release declining the sickle cell solubility test before participating in athletically related activities.
• Limiting a school's total regular-season playing schedule with outside competition during the women's basketball season to one of the following:
  • 28 contests and one qualifying regular-season multiple-team event that does not exceed three contests per school.
  • 29 contests and one qualifying regular-season multiple-team event that does not exceed two contests per school.
  • 29 contests during a playing season in which the school does not participate in a qualifying regular-season multiple-team event.

The council also is expected to consider two recommendations from the Division I Football Oversight Committee affecting spring practices. One recommendation would limit full contact to no more than 75 minutes in any one practice period during football's spring practice period unless the practice is a scrimmage session. The second recommendation prohibits football practice sessions that include full contact from occurring on consecutive days during the period. 

The Division I Strategic Vision and Planning Committee will consider forwarding a recommendation from the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports to adopt noncontroversial legislation to clarify that exceptions to the prohibitions on use of any substance in a banned-drug class may be provided to a student-athlete, as specified in the policies and procedures of the committee.  

The Division I Football Oversight Committee, Strategic Vision and Planning Committee, Women's Basketball Oversight Committee, Student-Athlete Experience Committee, Competition Oversight Committee and the Men's Basketball Oversight Committee all are slated to meet on Jan. 18. 

The Division I National Student-Athlete Advisory Committee will meet Jan. 19-21. 

Division I Board of Directors

The Division I Board of Directors will review the Constitution Committee proposals and the final draft of the new NCAA constitution that will be voted on during the Association-wide Business Session.

The board also will hear updates from several groups, including the Sport Science Institute, the Finance Committee and the Infractions Process Committee. Board members will consider a recommendation on potential suspension of the Independent Accountability Resolution Process, brought jointly by the Infractions Process Committee and the Independent Accountability Oversight Committee. The suspension would be reevaluated after the work of the Transformation Committee is complete. 

The board will also conduct a joint meeting with the Transformation Committee to provide its perspective to the committee as it begins its work.