Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Division I-AA Name Change for Dummies

As the 2006 Division I-AA football season comes to an end, so does the label that Cal Poly and other I-AA teams play under.
On Dec. 15, the NCAA will no longer use the I-A and I-AA designations for describing Division I football programs.
In fact, the NCAA has already begun to use the new and supposedly improved labels in conjunction with last week’s start of the 16-team Division I-AA playoffs, err the “NCAA Division I Football Championship.”
Division I-A is now being called the “Football Bowl Subdivision.”
Division I-AA is now the “Football Championship Subdivision.”
Confused yet?
I’ve opted to avoid using the new designations in my stories until after the 2006 football season officially comes to a close in an effort to avoid confusing readers (I’ll probably refer to it as I-AA/FCS early on).
Funny thing is, the NCAA’s board of directors decided to make the change because of the confusion I-A, I-AA and I-AAA labels were bringing other sports.
“The previous labels,” according a recent NCAA memo, “have generated a significant amount of concern among the I-AA and I-AAA membership, as the labels were confusing and misapplied by the public, boosters and media when referring not only to their football programs but their overall athletics programs (e.g., I-AA basketball program).”

• • •
So here’s a handy, dandy Division I-AA Football Name Change Table to help clear up any confusion, thanks to the the fine folks at the NCAA:



Old Terminology

New Terminology

Division I-A

Football Bowl Subdivision

Division I-AA

NCAA Football Championship Subdivision

NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship

NCAA Division I Football Championship

I-A (short hand)

Bowl Subdivision

I-AA (short hand)

Football Championship Subdivision

I-A (acronym)

FBS

I-AA (acronym)

FCS


• • •
The name change already has some Web-based news services scrambling to change the way they do business:
  • I-AA.org has moved its operations to the organization’s parent company, College Sporting News, at www.collegesportingnews.com. I-AA.org will remain a reference-only Web site with any new reporting being posted at CSN.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

this makes me mad, and i think it's stupid. the ncaa is for dummies!

BCS, FBS — what do they have in common? BS. exactly.