HJR 9: Relating to supporting the Great Alaska Shootout, the Top of the World Classic, and similar preseason basketball tournaments, and requesting that the National Collegiate Athletic Association reject legislative proposal No. 2000-106.
00 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 9 01 Relating to supporting the Great Alaska Shootout, the Top of the World Classic, and 02 similar preseason basketball tournaments, and requesting that the National Collegiate 03 Athletic Association reject legislative proposal No. 2000-106. 04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 WHEREAS the State of Alaska and many of its institutions participate in interstate 06 organizations and enter into many interstate agreements for the benefit of Alaska residents 07 and the residents of other states; and 08 WHEREAS one of these interstate organizations is the National Collegiate Athletic 09 Association (NCAA); and 10 WHEREAS the University of Alaska Anchorage's Great Alaska Shootout basketball 11 tournament and the University of Alaska Fairbanks' Top of the World Classic basketball 12 tournament are two of the premier early or preseason basketball tournaments for NCAA 13 member schools; and 14 WHEREAS the Great Alaska Shootout began in 1978 and, throughout the past 23 15 years, has been the host to more than 4,860 male and female student athletes who have been
01 exposed to the unique culture and experience of Alaska while interacting with the people of 02 Alaska; and 03 WHEREAS the Top of the World Classic began in 1996 and provides students in 04 Fairbanks with the opportunity to meet student athletes from schools participating in the 05 classic and to interact with positive role models from different areas of the country and 06 different backgrounds while also exposing the student athletes to the unique culture and 07 experience of Alaska; and 08 WHEREAS the Great Alaska Shootout and the Top of the World Classic provide an 09 opportunity for Alaska's Division II intercollegiate athletic teams to be exposed to and 10 compete against Division I schools while providing Alaska elementary and secondary school 11 students the opportunity to personally witness topflight intercollegiate athletic competition; 12 and 13 WHEREAS the Great Alaska Shootout and the Top of the World Classic have 14 become a tradition in their respective communities, if not in all of Alaska; create a strong 15 sense of community excitement and participation while providing a needed boost to the local 16 economies; and are integral financial contributors to the athletic programs at the University of 17 Alaska; and 18 WHEREAS the Great Alaska Shootout and the Top of the World Classic, along with 19 tournaments such as the Black Coaches Association Classic, the Tip Off Classic, the Maui 20 Invitational, Coaches Against Cancer, and other tournaments conducted in Hawaii, Puerto 21 Rico, and other locales, are classified as "exempt" tournaments under current NCAA 22 regulations, which means that some of the games played at these tournaments do not count 23 towards the 28-basketball-game limit that each NCAA Division I member may schedule each 24 year; and 25 WHEREAS, on October 25 - 26, 2000, the NCAA Division I Management Council 26 adopted legislative proposal No. 2000-106, which would limit NCAA Division I member 27 institutions to 29 basketball games and one exhibition contest or scrimmage each year and 28 would eliminate the exemption for games played at basketball tournaments such as the Great 29 Alaska Shootout and the Top of the World Classic, thereby eliminating an incentive for a 30 NCAA member institution to participate in these tournaments; and 31 WHEREAS the NCAA Division I Management Council and Board of Directors are
01 scheduled to consider legislative proposal No. 2000-106 in April 2001; 02 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges that the NCAA Division I 03 Management Council and Board of Directors recognize the positive contribution that 04 tournaments such as the Great Alaska Shootout and the Top of the World Classic make to the 05 lives and experiences of the student athletes who participate in the tournaments and to the 06 communities that sponsor the tournaments; and be it 07 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the NCAA Division 08 I Management Council and Board of Directors to reject legislative proposal No. 2000-106; 09 and be it 10 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges all NCAA member 11 institutions that have participated in the Great Alaska Shootout or the Top of the World 12 Classic, their coaches, and their students to contact their conference officials and the members 13 of the NCAA Division I Management Council and Board of Directors to urge the rejection of 14 legislative proposal No. 2000-106. 15 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to all NCAA Division I Board of Directors; 16 all members of the NCAA Division I Management Council; Cedric Dempsey, President of the 17 NCAA; Dave Schnase, National Office, NCAA; David Berst, Chief of Staff for Division I, 18 NCAA; Mark Hamilton, President of the University of Alaska; and to the Honorable Ted 19 Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, 20 U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.