Women’s soccer lone sport to survive override vote
January 07, 2006
The NCAA News
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Division I’s first override vote since restructuring resulted in three sports that had been poised for scholarship increases staying at the current levels. Division I delegates by a narrow margin in each case voted to override legislation previously adopted by the Division I Board of Directors that would have added a scholarship in volleyball and two each in gymnastics and track and field.
The vote took place January 7 at the Division I business session during the NCAA’s 100th annual Convention in Indianapolis.
Women’s soccer was the lone sport in Proposal No. 04-21 to survive the cut, as the effort to override a two-scholarship increase in that sport failed by a 191-125 count, a handful short of the 62.5 percent needed. Thus, effective August 1, 2006, scholarship limits in soccer escalate from 12 to 14.
The override came to be when 116 Divisions I-AA and I-AAA institutions called for a review after the Board of Directors adopted the measure last April. Because more than 100 schools submitted requests, the legislation was suspended until the Board’s August meeting. Presidents at that time stayed the course, stating that it was appropriate for a proposal so significant – and apparently so divisive – to be settled by procedures put in place when restructuring was approved in 1997 that gave the voting minority on any given measure the opportunity to reconsider.
The presidents emphasized that their action in August did not constitute a “line in the sand” or a breakdown in relations among Division I subdivisions. On the contrary, they cited the proposal as a victory for the processes provided for in the new structure.
