Conference Proposal Still on the Table

The American Conference, an idea that almost died in the planning stages, has received a stay of execution.

Administrators from Cal State Northridge and Cal State Sacramento have revived hopes for the proposed NCAA Division I basketball conference by deciding to take part in a planning session Sunday in Marco Island, Fla.

The addition of Northridge and Sacramento would give the conference six schools, the minimum required by the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. for Division I.

United States International University, Southern Utah State, Northeastern Illinois and Chicago State are reportedly set to join.

Sacramento officials previously had notified the other interested schools that they would not attend this weekend’s meeting, which is being held in conjunction with an athletic directors’ convention.

“Some things have changed,” said Bob Hiegert, Northridge athletic director. “Sacramento and (Northridge) are in the same position and I think the way things are looking now (they) are more in our best interests.”

Initially, conference organizers had considered an alliance for multiple sports that would have included as many as 10 schools.

“Now we’re all looking at it as the same type of thing--as a stopgap measure for basketball scheduling,” Hiegert said. “And it probably makes more sense for us now than with 10 members.”

Hiegert said Northridge could defray the cost of its trips to the Midwest by adding a nonconference game--for a guaranteed appearance fee--on the same trip.

Competing as a Division I independent next season, Northridge will play only 11 of its 28 basketball games at home.

In a meeting in San Diego last month, officials for prospective conference members were told they needed approval from their respective school presidents by June 7 in order for the American Conference to make its debut in the 1991-92 season.

Even if Hiegert likes what he hears at this weekend’s meeting, CSUN officials will need approval from the school’s 15-member Intercollegiate Athletic Board before Northridge can become a member. The board will not meet again until the fall.