(06-28-2020 07:19 PM)bullet Wrote: There's a lot in the NCAA regs that isn't said in one spot that is said in another. I don't think your workaround works. On being a qualifying conference is one of those things where you have to read totally different sections of the regs.
Quite ... when the ASUN Commissioner was floating these notions of how easy it is to get an autobid conference up and running, it ran up against the autobid rules.
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I should note that there are two possible readings of the "6 members x 5 other sports" rule. In one reading, these are members A, B, C, D, E, F, and they each sponsor 5 men's sports other than basketball, including either football, or two other men's team sports, where the six members can get together their five counting sports any way that works. This is the one that is most problematic for the "6+ FCS including affiliates" approach, since the non-FB schools need two team sports other than Basketball in order to count toward the six.
In the other reading, there are sports A, B, C, D and E, and each of them has six conference members, where (unlike the quite explicit specification for FBS conferences), any given sport can get together it's six members in whatever way works. This is not at all problematic for the "6+ FCS including affiliates" approach ... it fits that approach like a glove. Basketball, seven members, FCS FB, six+ members, XCountry, Indoor Track, Outdoor Track, six members each, one country club sport
or baseball with six members, done and dusted.
Somebody at the NCAA knows which of the two readings is meant ... I would never suggest that that person is kept out of the loop when MEAC is putting together an FCS via affiliates plan to see off any potential effort by the ASUN Commissioner to push MEAC over the edge and thereby push their conference charter onto the fire sale auction block.
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The admin section is the smallest and most deceptive:
Quote: 31.02.3 Core Conference. A core conference is a multisport conference that has been elected to membership and, as a result of legislation, is identified in the applicable sections of Constitution 4 related to representation in the NCAA governance structure.
Of course, the plain text is a multi-sport conference THAT has been identified, so if you cease being a multi-sport conference, you stop being a Core conference.
And there are all of the individual requirements. If Coppin State and UMES start Volleyball, they have to play a minimum of 19 matches a season ... if they start Lacrosse, they have to play a minimum of 10 games a season. Every track sport requires a minimum of four meets a season. Etc. There have to be two men's and two women's team sports, which is why Chicago State restarted their men's soccer team (minimum 11 games) when they dropped baseball (minimum 27 games). Minimum scholarship requirements. Etc.
And then on top of the Division membership requirement are the autobid requirements, which is in the Championships chapter 18:
Quote: 18.5.2 National Collegiate Championship. [#] To be eligible for automatic qualification into any National Collegiate Championship, a conference shall: (Adopted: 1/9/06 effective 8/1/06)
(a) Have at least six active members that sponsor the applicable sport in any division;
(b) Meet all applicable requirements for conference automatic qualification into any National Collegiate Championship as set forth in Bylaw 31.3.4.
18.5.3 Men's Basketball Eligibility Requirements. For automatic qualification in the sport of men's basketball in Division I, a conference shall meet the following additional requirements: (Revised: 1/10/91 effective 8/1/91)
(a) It shall determine a conference champion in at least six men's sports [at least two of which must be team sports as set forth in Bylaw 31.3.4.1-(a)]; and in each of these six sports, at least six of the conference's member institutions shall sponsor the sport on the varsity intercollegiate level; and
(b) It shall conduct double round-robin, in-season conference competition, or a minimum of 14 conference games, before declaring its champion in basketball.
18.5.3(a) is where maintaining 6+ FCS members and/or enticing Virginia State up and maintaining 6 members in baseball play their role in maintaining the golden ticket.
And then there's continuity ... for a multi-sport conference, having sponsored the sport and meeting the multi-sport definition and the sport sponsorship requirements for eight years to establish continuity, and then continuing to keep them, barring a two year grace period to get back up to numbers, to maintain continuity:
Quote: 20.02.5.4 Continuity. A multisport conference shall establish continuity. To establish continuity, a multisport conference must meet the requirements of Bylaw 20.02.5.1. In addition, the conference must meet the requirements of Bylaws 20.02.5.2 and 20.02.5.3 for a period of eight consecutive years. (Adopted: 1/15/11 effective 8/1/11)
20.02.5.5 Grace Period. A conference shall continue to be considered a multisport conference for two years following the date of withdrawal of the institution(s) that causes the conference's noncompliance with the minimum multisport conference requirements. (Adopted: 1/15/11 effective 8/1/11)
Those 20.02.5.1 and meeting 20.02.5.2 and 20.02.5.3 for eight years are the definition of the multi-sport conference with the section where the MEAC is skirting with the minimums already cited.
Note by contrast the FBS specification, where the requirements on core membership are substantially tighter than the general Division 1 specification:
Quote: 20.02.6 ... A conference classified as a Football Bowl Subdivision conference
shall be comprised of at least eight full Football Bowl Subdivision members that satisfy all bowl subdivision requirements. An institution shall be included as one of the eight full Football Bowl Subdivision members only if the institution participates in the conference schedule in at least six men's and eight women's conference-sponsored sports, including men's basketball and football and three women's team sports including women's basketball. A conference-sponsored sport shall be a sport in which regular season and/or championship opportunities are provided, consistent with the minimum standards identified by the applicable NCAA sport committee for automatic qualification.
Any conference the satisfies the FBS requirement and is entered into the NCAA Division 1 books as a Core Conference, and maintains that for eight years, will automatically be an autobid Tourney conference, because it encompasses and is more demanding than simple Division 1 multi-sport conference status.