Talks Begin on Formation of New League : Colleges: Schools consider 10-team conference that would play Division I football with an eye toward cost-containment.

Representatives of 10 Division I universities gathered at Cal State Northridge on Friday to discuss formation of a Division I-AA cost-containment football-only conference.

Under NCAA rules requiring schools to play in the same division in all sports by 1993, the universities must either drop football or play it at the Division I level.

Western Football Conference schools in attendance were Northridge, Cal State Sacramento, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Southern Utah. The 1992 season will be the last for the Division II WFC, although the proposed conference might retain the WFC name.

Santa Clara, which dropped out of the WFC after the 1991 season, also had representatives at the meeting, as did UC Davis, St. Mary’s, UC Santa Barbara, University of San Diego and Cal State Long Beach.

UC Davis played Division II football in the Northern California Athletic Conference last season and St. Mary’s and UC Santa Barbara were Division II independents.

San Diego played at the Division III level and Long Beach played Division I-A until the end of the 1991 season when it dropped football because of a lack of funding.

The 3 1/2-hour meeting centered on the issue of scholarships and financial aid. The numbers being discussed are lower than the Division II maximum of 45 scholarships, WFC Commissioner Vic Buccola said.

Northridge Athletic Director Bob Hiegert said that the group was not close to an agreement on scholarship numbers. “We’re all over the map on that,” he said.

Northridge currently provides 31 scholarships; the Division I-AA maximum is 65.

Buccola said that the scholarship-financial aid issue stems from the diversity of the institutions. Some are private, others are public; some are in the Cal State system, others are in the University of California system.

“The scholarship number is a very difficult question because of the increasing cost of scholarships,” Cal State Sacramento Athletic Director Lee McElroy said. “To resolve the issue we need a balance between financial aid and scholarships.”

Robert Chason, vice chancellor of student affairs at UC Davis, did not have a scholarship limit in mind, but he did say: “We are interested in keeping the numbers at a minimum.”

Davis and San Luis Obispo, currently Division II schools, are going through a reclassification process and are expected to move to Division I in all sports by 1995.

Buccola said that once the financial aid model is determined the rest of the details will fall into place.

“To equalize the playing field is what our intent is,” Buccola said.

After the financial aid model is determined, representatives must submit the plan to their schools for approval.

The presidents of each school are tentatively scheduled to meet in early March in Santa Clara to review the progress of the conference proposal.

“We all have different situations,” said Jack Bishop, football coach and athletic director at Southern Utah.

“The secret of this is to make it so everybody comes out on the same page.”

On reducing the number of scholarships, Bishop said: “Obviously, I’m not elated, but if we can get 10 or 11 schools in agreement, we can be competitive with each other.”

Bishop said that Southern Utah is considering other options, including playing as a Division I-AA independent. Northridge is considering playing in the Division I-AA Big Sky Conference.

An expansion committee from that conference will be on the Northridge campus Feb. 11 to explore the possibilities of Northridge moving into the Big Sky in several sports, including football.

Hiegert said that Northridge would be interested in the Big Sky only if it expands and splits into divisions, thereby reducing travel expenses.