Here is an interesting article on the heels of the vote to establish a subclassification of 1AA but prior to forced reclassification. Apparently it passed with the help of non-football schools who were promised this would only apply to football and not all sports as previously proposed, where no football = 1AA classification
Here is the first 1A rules:
Quote:These are the criteria for a school's admittance to I-A:
60% of its games against other I-A teams
Either a 30,000-seat stadium and an average attendance of 17,000 for one year in the last four, or an average of 17,000 over the last four year
if a school has either of the attendance requirements, an eight-sport program will suffice
If not, it must have a 12-sport program - IVY LEAGUE AMENDMENT
Here are some arguments against this new subdivision followed by author's rebuttal
Quote:"Subdivision will be the death of the I-AA schools. Reclassification will make them second-class citizens, and they will suffer accordingly in recruiting and support."
"Nonsense. If Divisions II and III do not rail over classification and do not have heavy attrition rates, why should I-AA? Except at convention time, classification seldom gets a discouraging word, and serves not to point up inferiorities but to keep priorities in order. Below the very top level, divisions tend to run together, anyway.
In truth, most teams that will make up Division I-AA already have been grouped by sterner qualifiers than Roman numerals. The differences are obvious. No recruiter with a lick of sense would try to convince a youngster that playing at, say, Boise State, is the same as playing at Michigan State. By the same token, there are two immediate advantages to participating in I-AA. Less pressure for the Boise State Joneses to live up to the Michigan State Joneses, for one. And two, a playoff similar to that in Divisions II and III has been formulated to provide a I-AA national championship and a $750,000 television payoff (coming from the Division I package recently signed with ABC). Under the old structure, most I-AA schools could expect never to see the inside of a bowl or the figures on a television check. I-AA schools also would be guaranteed regular-season telecasts."
Quote:"The division will be top-heavy; 104 are eligible for I-A, only 40 would be left for I-AA."
"Not likely. Being eligible docs not necessarily mean a school will opt for I-A status. Within a 60-day period, all Division I schools have to declare the division they prefer. They will then have three years to meet the requirements. Originally, the breakdown figured to be 79 in I-A (the seven major conferences and top independents) and 65 in I-AA. The so-called Ivy League amendment, allowing eligibility in I-A for schools fielding teams in 12 intercollegiate sports, put an additional 25 on the roll.
It is not likely, however, that in the privacy of their own environments, weighing the alternatives, more than a few of those will opt for I-A."
Quote:"Some conferences will have to shut down because half their teams will go one way, half the other."
"Possibly. For three or four leagues there will be a dilemma. If San Jose State and Long Beach State of the Pacific Coast Athletic Association and Tulsa and New Mexico State of the Missouri Valley opt for I-A, as they likely will, those conferences will face realignment problems. That's nothing new, of course. Losing members is not always tantamount to disaster, and leagues are seldom held sacred by schools who want to get out. They usually don't stand on ceremony—they just get out. The Southern Conference has been playing musical chairs for years. Recent defectors include East Carolina, West Virginia, Richmond and William and Mary. Arizona and Arizona State have recently left the WAC for the Pac-10, as it will soon be called. Reclassification had nothing to do with it."
MY THOUGHTS
The author got that last point dead wrong as this forced realignment caused a tremendous amount of instability in the Southland while causing a major exodus from the MVC. Author was also dead wrong about voluntary subclassification and the TV and financial opportunities for 1AA programs.
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Why didn’t the Southland fight harder to stay DI-A?
