Last week the Big 12 commish sent this letter to the NCAA about track regionals. While the one point he makes about cost is a viable one to discuss, the other point he makes is that all but the 6 BCS conferences have athletes who are "less-talented" and therefore don't deserve to be on the same track as the Big 12 athletes. What do you all think about this?
Dear Joni:
Please accept this letter on behalf of the Big 12 Conference member institutions to support the elimination of Division I track regional qualifying meets, effective for the 2010 championship.
We believe that the current structure of qualifying for the national championship meet through a regional structure is neither fair nor cost effective. At a time when our institutions are identifying cost-cutting measures on their own campuses, the regional meets cost much more for programs at our level since they have to send so many of their student-athletes in order to qualify. It also places our track and field participants at risk of not qualifying against less-talented competition in cases of having to compete through illness, injury or by making a mistake in a one-time event. Elimination of the regional qualifying format in track is strongly supported by our schools.
It is my understanding that this issue was on the agenda to be addressed by the Championships Cabinet in June but was never discussed. It is our hope that this discussion will occur at the upcoming Championships Cabinet meeting and that immediate action is taken on this important topic.
Thank you for your consideration and please let me know if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Dan Beebe
Commissioner