The Division III Management Council reviewed and provided initial approval of the division's two-year budget for fiscal years 2025 and 2026 during its meeting this week at the national office in Indianapolis.
If approved by the Presidents Council, the budget includes increases of:
- $438,500 for enrichment fund initiatives, such as conference grant funding, officiating support, athletic trainer and sports information professional development, an update to the OneTeam Program and more.
- $3.5 million for championships, which includes expenses related to bracket expansion, an increase in per diem and officiating fees, and a joint championship for men's basketball.
- $3.5 million in supplemental expenses, which involve providing championship hosts with a stipend to offset livestreaming costs, creating a national platform to house livestreams of preliminary rounds of team championships, a health and safety grant for schools, and funding to provide flexibility in establishing brackets to protect highly ranked teams.
Strategic plan for 2024-26
The strategic plan features the division's philosophy statement that establishes the framework from which the division's programs, resource allocations and regulatory decisions are made. In addition, the plan summarizes the division's strategic priorities by outlining the offered programs and services and what must be accomplished in the current year of the budget biennium for the division to be successful. The plan now goes to the Division III Presidents Council for final approval.
"Division III continues to have productive conversations in the midst of changing times in collegiate athletics that focuses on enhancing the student-athlete experience while aiding the division's conferences and institutions," said Jason Verdugo, chair of the Management Council and athletics director at Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
Year-in-residence transfer
The council recommended the Presidents Council use its emergency legislative authority to amend the transfer year-in-residence rule, effective immediately. The proposal clarifies that a student-athlete who transfers while academically ineligible would not be immediately eligible for competition but could regain eligibility after the first term at the new Division III school. If the Presidents Council acts, the membership will ratify the change at the 2025 NCAA Convention.
2025 Convention proposals
The council agreed to sponsor the following 2025 Convention proposals:
- Create a National Collegiate Championship for women's wrestling.
- Amend the Division III legislative process.
- Provide the opportunity for a school reclassifying to Division III to request a waiver to reduce the process from three years to two years, provided established criteria are satisfied.
- Create an exception that will permit a student who graduates from a Division III school to maintain athletics eligibility to participate for the Division III school while enrolled at an accredited nonmember school that has a formal academic relationship with the Division III institution and that does not have a varsity athletics program.
Sports betting
The council continued its discussion of sports betting and its impact on Division III student-athletes and athletics departments. The council discussedseveral possible changes to the current sports betting legislation,including possible deregulation to permit betting on professional athletics.
Championships
The council approved a recommendation from the Championships Committee to approve a waiver of Bylaw 31.3.5.1-(b) for up to two years to allow flexibility to ensure top-ranked teams don't compete against each other in the early round(s) of a championship. The council also approved noncontroversial legislation to eliminate the off-ice training exception for ice hockey.
Council leadership
The council elected Verdugo as chair and Rob Larson, professor and faculty athletics representative at Luther, as vice chair. These changes are effective immediately and run until January 2026.