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Not exactly, the membership of the Ivy that could have remained at 1A in 1982, but eventually went to 1-AA did it because the other option was to leave the Ivy League, but they were hardly unique.
The NCAA membership voted (led by the CFA membership) and effectively wiped out dozens schools from 1A football at an 'emergency' meeting over the weekend of Dec. 3&4th, 1981. In 1978, only five conferences voluntarily accepted the 1-AA label. Yankee, SWAC, Big Sky, MEAC, and the Ohio Valley Conference - who would hire one James Delany as commissioner, shortly after in 1979 - and after 10 years of running a 1-AA conference, Delany moved to the Big 10 in 1989, and established the Big 10 network, and understood the importance of television money in college football - and how it applies to actually running a university at large scale with an actual academic and athletic mission that work together.
THe Ivy didn't accept the 1-AA label, based on stadium size and attendance, nor did the MAC, Missouri Valley, SoCon, and most of the independants (of which there were MANY) . THe Ivy led the way with the 12 sport exemption rule, meaning that if you sponsored at least 12 varsity sports at division 1 level, including football, the stadium and attendance rules that established 1-AA football, were waived.
At that meeting in December 1981, the membership of the CFA, repealed the 12 sport exemption rule, and effectively booted about 40 football programs out of 1-A football. It was repealing the 12 sport exemption that forced the move down to 1-AA for all those programs, and indeed, for Yale - it was the prospect of having to either leave the Ivy, or down grade. The MAC, managed to put in their own version of exemption, because they had ins with the Big 10 coaches and arranged scheduling that worked and basically signed the Big 10 conference up as a big brother.
It was all entirely, about wanting television money and appearances kept within a certain group, and it happened no differently than grade school clique politics.
For the record, no school, has ever made the choice to move down to 1-AA football, after having moved up to 1-A football. In September 1982, several Ivy schools, and about a dozen other schools spread across the Missouri Valle, SoCon, Southland, and Independants that still met the stadium and attendance requirements, all chose to go to 1-AA football, becuase other members of their conferences, failed to meet that 1-AA attendance and stadium requirements - and no longer had the 12 varsity sport rule exemption in place, after the repeal.
The NCAA membership voted (led by the CFA membership) and effectively wiped out dozens schools from 1A football at an 'emergency' meeting over the weekend of Dec. 3&4th, 1981. In 1978, only five conferences voluntarily accepted the 1-AA label. Yankee, SWAC, Big Sky, MEAC, and the Ohio Valley Conference - who would hire one James Delany as commissioner, shortly after in 1979 - and after 10 years of running a 1-AA conference, Delany moved to the Big 10 in 1989, and established the Big 10 network, and understood the importance of television money in college football - and how it applies to actually running a university at large scale with an actual academic and athletic mission that work together.
THe Ivy didn't accept the 1-AA label, based on stadium size and attendance, nor did the MAC, Missouri Valley, SoCon, and most of the independants (of which there were MANY) . THe Ivy led the way with the 12 sport exemption rule, meaning that if you sponsored at least 12 varsity sports at division 1 level, including football, the stadium and attendance rules that established 1-AA football, were waived.
At that meeting in December 1981, the membership of the CFA, repealed the 12 sport exemption rule, and effectively booted about 40 football programs out of 1-A football. It was repealing the 12 sport exemption that forced the move down to 1-AA for all those programs, and indeed, for Yale - it was the prospect of having to either leave the Ivy, or down grade. The MAC, managed to put in their own version of exemption, because they had ins with the Big 10 coaches and arranged scheduling that worked and basically signed the Big 10 conference up as a big brother.
It was all entirely, about wanting television money and appearances kept within a certain group, and it happened no differently than grade school clique politics.
For the record, no school, has ever made the choice to move down to 1-AA football, after having moved up to 1-A football. In September 1982, several Ivy schools, and about a dozen other schools spread across the Missouri Valle, SoCon, Southland, and Independants that still met the stadium and attendance requirements, all chose to go to 1-AA football, becuase other members of their conferences, failed to meet that 1-AA attendance and stadium requirements - and no longer had the 12 varsity sport rule exemption in place, after the repeal.
