Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 17, 1993 TAG: 9302170057
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: KANSAS CITY, MO. LENGTH: Medium
SCHULTZ PREDICTS DIVISION I-A FOOTBALL PLAYOFF
Although most coaches and college presidents remain opposed to a Division I-A football playoff, NCAA executive director Dick Schultz says he thinks there will be one by the end of the decade.Schultz said Tuesday that economic pressures will force schools to consider a playoff seriously, and that it could generate $60 million to help financially strapped athletic departments.
"There are a lot of things outside the control of coaches and presidents and athletic directors that might take place that could have some impact on what happens in the late '90s," Schultz told the NCAA College Football Forum.
At the NCAA convention in January, Schultz asked members to consider a one-game playoff as a primary source of new revenue. While he conceded there hasn't been much support for his proposal, Schultz said he thought that would change as more and more schools struggled to fund their athletic programs.
"We could do a lot with $60 million," he said.
Most coaches are against a playoff because they believe it would destroy the bowl system. However, Schultz pointed out that the bowls already are being hurt by the NFL's extended season, which has led to a glut of games on New Year's Day and hard times for late December bowls that must compete with the pros.
"Most of those non-New Year's games have gone to syndication or cable," Schultz said. "And the postseason bowl committee, which had a plan to continue to raise the payouts, has had to hold the line for the last couple of years or we would have lost a couple of bowls."
While Division I-A football and basketball programs generally make money, almost all other sports are in the red. The financial strain could get worse as the NCAA tries to achieve "gender equity" by increasing opportunities for female athletes.
Football coaches are worried that cuts may have to be made in their sport in order to fund women's teams. However, Schultz said the goal is to increase opportunities for women without reducing them for men.
"Perhaps there does have to be some paring of programs, but I don't think anybody wants to do anything that's going to damage football or damage basketball or damage men's sports," he said.
Instead, Schultz said, college officials should consider adding new women's sports such as figure skating.
"It's a beautiful sport with tremendous interest in the Olympics," he said. "Maybe we have to take a look at some of these programs. Maybe we're not searching in the right areas to determine what the interests and abilities of women are."
And how would schools pay for new or expanded women's programs? In addition to a football playoff, Schultz has suggested the creation of an NCAA licensing division similar to those in the NBA, NFL and Major League Baseball.
Schultz said collegiate licensing generated $60 million last year, but only $10 million went to universities and $2 million to the companies that handled the licensing. The rest, he said, went to makers of counterfeit and pirated products.
"It has unbelievable potential if handled right," Schultz said. "We have to constantly be creative and look at new means of developing revenue."
Memo: shorter version ran in metro