NCAA president Myles Brand announced last night that the Division I men's and women's basketball tournaments will begin as scheduled this week, regardless of whether the United States goes ahead with its plans for military action against Iraq's Saddam Hussein.
In a national teleconference from the NCAA's headquarters in Indianapolis, Brand said that the decision to keep playing was reached after discussions with Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and with the unanimous support of the NCAA's executive committee and the Division I board of directors.
Even if the U.S. military begins bombing Iraq sometime after tonight's deadline, as President Bush said it would if Hussein and his sons defy orders to leave the country, Brand said that the various NCAA championships would continue without interruption.
"We will go forward with our plans to play the games when and if war breaks out," he said. "We are prepared to do that on schedule in our normal venues. The overriding consideration was that we were not going to let a tyrant determine how we lead our lives."
While Brand said the decision to play was met with enthusiasm from government and NCAA officials, it was done after much deliberation.
"The fact is that we've been looking at alternatives for the last four months and studying the process carefully," Brand said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the young men and women who are in the desert and elsewhere defending our freedom. We wish them the very best."
Brand said that the logistical problem of rescheduling games and rebooking venues was not a deciding factor.
"We were first concerned with the safety of the student-athletes. ... We were concerned with the safety of the fans," Brand said. "We wanted to be assured, and we were, that Secretary Ridge and the leadership in the White House was comfortable with the tournament going forward, and indeed they were."
Asked if any event could interrupt or cancel the tournaments, Brand said, "Extraordinary things may happen in the future, totally unknown to us. We cannot deal with those hypotheticals now. From everything we know, based on President Bush's announcement of possible action in the next couple of days, we are convinced that this is the best course of action."
Brand said that extra measures will be taken to protect the security of those involved in the events as well as attending them "to ensure that [they] will be safe as they possibly could be."
