NCAA Releases Val Ackerman's White Paper
MAAC Sports
Edison, N.J. - Val Ackerman, the founding president of the WNBA and the first woman to serve as president of USA Basketball has gathered information over the past six months concerning the state of NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball and developed a strategic “white paper” with her conclusions and recommendations about how to improve the game.
Ackerman was hired by the NCAA in November to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the current state of women’s college basketball. Her report examines the vision, values and priorities of the future of women’s college basketball. Ackerman proposes short- and long-term priorities and recommendations, which include changes to the NCAA tournament, playing rules, grassroots marketing, corporate sponsors, games on television, and the governance and management of Division I Women’s Basketball Committees.
“Val Ackerman has done a great service to the NCAA and women’s basketball with her comprehensive review of Division I Basketball issues and her suggested solutions,” noted MAAC Commissioner Rich Ensor. “The MAAC women’s basketball coaches and the athletic administrators will review the report in the coming weeks and provide feedback on the legislative, championship and playing rules changes detailed in the report. My own initial reaction is that there are some elements of the report that the MAAC membership will support, some changes we’ll have concerns about and that generally there will be a need for a national dialogue among the entire Division on how can the sport be reenergized. I personally like the 32 team opening round format, the super-regional concept, and the Friday/Sunday Final Four schedule on the weekend after the Men’s Final Four.”
Ackerman proposes key changes to the NCAA tournament to improve attendance and visibility. She recommends moving the Women’s Final Four dates back to a Friday-Sunday format instead of the current Sunday-Tuesday format. She also recommends changing the second week of the tournament to a two-site, super-regional format instead of the current four-site format.
The Division I Women’s Basketball Committee will review Ackerman’s recommendations concerning the Division I Women’s Basketball Championship, and other appropriate NCAA committees will review all other recommendations and decide on the next best steps.
For Ackerman’s full “white paper” and further information visit: http://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-women/article/2013-06-17/ackerman-s-white-paper-outlines-recommendations-spark-growt