
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, May 1, 1993                   TAG: 9305010039
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DALLAS                                LENGTH: Short

FOOTBALL COMMITTEE ENDORSES BOWLS

The NCAA post-season football committee unanimously endorsed the bowl system Thursday, just one week after a shoe company offered to sponsor an eight-team, $125 million Division I-A playoff.

"This is not a position opposing anyone or any proposal," committee chairman Donnie Duncan said from the San Antonio meeting. "This is a position that recognizes reality over many years."

Duncan, the athletic director at the University of Oklahoma, cited the 12-member group's desire to protect the 20 bowls that have guaranteed $70 million to I-A schools next fall.

The estimated $125 million that would be generated by the playoff is just speculation at this point, Duncan added.

Dick Schultz, the NCAA's executive director, asked his membership at its convention in January to consider a one-game playoff. The endorsement of the bowls was the reply.

Since the speech by Schultz, last week's offer by Nike Inc. was the first substantive playoff proposal.

Nike and Creative Artists Agency, which represents some of the biggest names in the film industry, met with Schultz within the past two months about the playoff proposal, The Dallas Morning News reported, quoting an NCAA source it did not name.

Nike and the agency made their presentation to the Collegiate Commissioners Association last week, the newspaper said.

The proposed eight-team playoff would incorporate the bowls in some fashion, said Southwest Conference commissioner Steve Hatchell, who heard the presentation.

by CNB