NCAA legislation could add 12th game

INDIANAPOLIS -- With opposition only from the Atlantic Coast Conference, the NCAA Division I Management Council has backed Division I-A and I-AA schools' adding a 12th football game starting with the 2006 season.\nThe council also approved more flexible recruiting calendars in men's basketball and increased the number of scholarships for women in gymnastics, soccer, volleyball, and track and field. It also voted to grant another year of eligibility to players who were academically ineligible as freshmen but have completed 80 percent of their degree requirements after four years.\nNo action was taken on the length of the season in basketball because of a pending court case, Division I Vice President David Berst said Tuesday.\nAll the legislation, given tentative approval by the council during its meeting Monday, still must be approved by the NCAA Board of Directors, which meets April 28.\nBerst said he would not predict whether the NCAA board would give final approval for a 12th football game.\n"I would expect there will be more discussion," he said. "The board should have the freedom to make its own decision."\nThere was no discussion of the issue at the council's meeting.\n"The various conferences came to the meeting prepared to vote, and we just tallied the votes," Berst said.\nRon Wellman, the athletic director at Wake Forest and chairman of the ACC athletic directors, said many of the conference's concerns dealt with academics.\n"We believe the season is long enough at 11 games, and we actually enjoy the bye week," he said.