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Wednesday - January 25, 2006

NCAA Approves Uniform Start Date For 2008

The NCAA approved a proposal to set a uniform date for the first regular-season games and first day of practice for all NCAA-member schools fielding baseball teams. Starting with the 2008 season, the start date is the Friday that falls 13 weeks before the selection of the 64-team NCAA tournament field, which takes place each year on Memorial Day. Usually, that will correspond to the last Friday in February. The new rule also states that teams cannot practice before February 1st and fall practices are limited to 45 days during the months of September, October, and November.

So, in 2008, the season will start on February 22. Looking at this year's schedule, the Horns will already have 11 games under their belt (all but 2 played away from UT, ironically enough) by the 22nd of Februrary. There's no mention in the article cited above on whether or not the new rules affect things like the Fan Fest scheduled for this weekend. I did check the NCAA site for the rule on that sort of thing and don't think it will be affected by the new rules changes.

When the proposal was first being bandied about, I was against it. I didn't see how they'd manage to get a full season of games in without pushing the season back...meaning we'd be playing the CWS in July. Pushing the date back was supposed to ease the hardship the northern schools currently face since they're forced to play most of their games on the road in February due to poor playing conditions at home. Thus my "ironically enough" comment above as Coach Garrido and Company seem to have gone out of their way this year to make UT's season start on the road. But, what about the hardship for the southern schools to be playing in extreme heat in the summer months while the northern schools enjoy balmy weather those same months? In addition, it could hurt athletes drafted during the MLB draft. Any athletes still competing in tournament play would be forced to push their Minor League report dates back...or leave their college teams early to report. There were a couple of other things as well. But, I suppose it's all water under the bridge now. Particularly so since they don't seem to be pushing the CWS back at all.

There's an additional proposal to reduce the maximum number of regular-season games from 56 to 52. That's still being debated, though, and we should hear about that in April.

I went digging around on the NCAA site and found a Word document listing the proposed changes to playing and practice seasons for all sports. According to that document, the rationale for the baseball change is as follows:

This proposal promotes competitive equity by establishing a uniform start date for practice and competition in the championship segment. It reduces the gap between the first opportunity to compete at home for "northern" and "sunbelt" institutions. Because home teams win approximately 60 percent of their contests, the extent to which early season disparities in number and location of contests can be reduced and will enhance competitive equity. [...] A reduction in the number of contests (ed. note: this part of the proposal is still up for consideration) is intended to avoid compaction of the schedule with the new competition start date and should positively impact the time demands on and academic performance of baseball student-athletes. The proposal may not be ideal for all constituencies, but it is a compromise thought to be in the best interest of the sport and intended to be fair to all constituencies. The 45-day limit in the nonchampionship segment eliminates the opportunity to practice or compete during the months of December and January; however, it gives all institutions the opportunity to practice and compete with each other during the same time frame.

Hat tip: Big Ten Hardball.

Posted by Joanna at 12:56 PM