In the FCS Huddle:

Frisco, TX – Brett Colborne, associate manager at ESPN, 860-766-2000

PATTY VIVERITO

FCS CEO meeting at NCAA in early May

Second annual meeting at ESPN in spring hopeful and helpful meetings, where CEO group wasn't asking as much as ESPN said it wanted to do something "We were received more as partners, and they came with ideas and pushed some ideas forward and were far more, I thought, pro-active in trying to identify ways so we can work together."

NCAA tagline relayed to logo and moniker: Every down, every day

soft launch of branding inniative, including new FCS logo, which will prominently feature the term "Division I" within it.

NCAA Convention - Thursday will still the letters FCS, but Division I will be played up abandon the idea of rebranding with an entirely new name yet again "We're pretty comfortable with the letters FCS. And we're very comfortable with talking about it in the context of Division I and making that prominent. And we are all wholeheartedly in favor of abandoning the mouthful that is Football Championship Subdivision in every way, shape or form. Nobody called the BCS the Bowl Championship Series, it was the BCS. So we're FCS."

"I think that the single most important thing that our Subdivision did was involve our presidents. It's no coincidence that the commissioners and the athletic directors and really all of our stakeholders, including our coaches, did a lot of posturing about the need to expand the bracket for years.

"And here we are, what three years later, with not one but two expansions of the bracket, first from 16 to 20 and now to 24. I think that is the direct result of our presidents' involvement and they deserve singular responsibility for getting it done."

"They suggested that we change NCAA legislation so that we can open the season a week earlier than the rest of Division I. If we did, they would devote that Saturday to FCS football games. Some of it might be soft of made-for-TV matchups. Maybe you replay the previous national championship game or maybe you take some selective interconference games and see what they look like."

preseason conference

visability during season game of the week on ESPN3 - which is a way to foster better non-conference matchups all postseason games are available

a number of schools are already working with televising games on the ESPN3 Internet platform

a Tuesday in October for games across ESPN platforms

"Now all of a sudden you're starting to talk about some continuity and some packaging that's much more interesting."

25th anniversary of televising title game run a series of vignettes to run throughout the regular season

bottom quartile of FBS and top quartile of FCS "A lot of these decisions that are being made to change subdivisions are headscratching, and the data doesn't support the supposedly success and visability that these institutions care to reap. These facts haven't changed in the 20 years that we've been doing this and it still keeps happening."

"A strong FCS, I contend is what needs to be our top priority." MVFC strive to be nationally competitive at the second level of college football "We stand ready to sort of step into whatever role that is."

"They're playing scholarship teams already during the season and we're not asking all 12 of them to play in the postseason, we're asking our best team to play in the postseason. I think folks are going to be a little bit surprised perhaps by the level of competitiveness of the champion team."

"They want to test themselves against the best just as our full-scholarship teams want to play FBS teams."

KYLE KALLANDER

how can they work together to promote FCS, be partners in branding provided highlights and great plays for use on ESPN move certain games into that August window; ratings were better for December championship, so the network would favor earlier start to the season "There's pent-up demand for college football and it would be a great opportunity for us."

FCS CEO group has made a difference