Where and how do NAIA schools fit into intercollegiate athletics and Division II football?
Higgins: NAIA provides an alternative for those that can’t play at an NCAA school for one reason or another. The primary differences are the much more relaxed academic eligibility rules and the lack of a requirement for a minimum number of sponsored sports in NAIA. You can find schools that really only offer one or two sports per gender. That really doesn’t fit in the NCAA model. Q: In recent years, the viewer ratings for the D-II national championship game in football have always lagged behind the others, including D-III. Is there a future where D-II football can find a self-supporting niche or will it always have to be subsidized by the school? Higgins: At 99% of the schools it will always require institutional support up front since they cannot be self-supportive on generated income. However, from an institutional perspective almost all D-II football teams are self-supporting. Do the math – if 30 equivalencies are given out, they have 110 bodies, 80 are paying a lot of money, rememb
