The NCAA Manual is very clear on this point. If you want to play an "exempt" championship game (i.e., the game does not count against the participating schools' 12-game limit for the season), the only allowable format is to subdivide into 2 Divisions (which use "round robin" play, no less, although apparently they got some kind of mitigating interpretation in the MAC, which does not play a round robin in the East Division) and have the division champions play in a title game.
Nothing is stopping you from having a 1 vs. 2 game at the end of the season after you play in a single 12-team section, but to do it, you'd have to do like high school leagues do, and require that the league members reserve 1 game during the last week of the season in case they qualify.
I can look up the citation if you would like (but I am an MSU fan, so maybe you don't want my help!). I was searching for the Big Ten expansion bylaws and ran across this thread, thought I'd tell you what I do know for certain. I'm interested in knowing what the vote has to be. It's unlikely to be a simple majority, but it could conceivably be 2/3rds, 3/4ths, or unanimous. Also, does Chicago get a vote?
EDIT: The rule in question is 17.11.5.2(c) from the NCAA Division I Manual. "The maximum number of football contests shall exclude . . . [a] conference championship game between division champions of a member conference of 12 or more institutions that is divided into two divisions (of six or more institutions each), each of which conducts round-robin, regular-season competition among the members of that division."
I contacted Scott Chipman at the Big Ten office. He said that, contrary to popular belief, the reputed requirements about being in the AAU or being within or adjacent to the current Big Ten footprint are not requirements. However, he said that the required vote to admit a new member (2/3rds? 3/4ths? Unanimous?) is "not public information."
Recent Comments