One week from now, Eastern will determine what its plan will be if the NCAA institutes a 12th regular season football game.

Director of athletics Rich McDuffie said Wednesday he plans to meet with associate athletic director John Smith, head football coach Bob Spoo and offensive coordinator Mark Hutson regarding what options the Panthers have in this issue.

Eastern officials must first wait for the NCAA to approve the legislation that is expected to institute for the 2006 football season.

“We don’t have a contingency plan because we haven’t discussed it yet, but that’s something we will be talking about next week,” McDuffie said.

The NCAA’s Division I Management Council gave its approval to the 12th game with support from every conference except the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Division I Board of Directors will vote Friday on the proposal that will add a 12th game to all I-A and I-AA football schedules from 2006 and beyond.

McDuffie stated Eastern’s options if the proposal is passed.

Eastern is scheduled to play Illinois in 2006 as its “guarantee” game, where the Panthers are scheduled to get $300,000 from the University of Illinois athletic department. If Eastern decides to inquire about another I-A game, it would mean more money for the Panthers.

“We could make another guarantee game which would give us another pay day,” McDuffie said.

The dominant I-AA programs may not be in favor of another game against a bigger program.

“If you’re one of those programs that thinks you’re going to be one of the 16 (teams) in the playoffs, you’re probably not crazy about another game,” said Robert McFarland, Stephen F. Austin head coach, in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “If you’re not one of those, you like it because you can get some money for your program.”

Another option for the Panthers would be to create a home and home contract with another I-AA school that Eastern doesn’t normally schedule, such as Southern Illinois.

“We could be interested in doing a home and home deal, but that would probably mean we’d break even financially,” McDuffie said.

Lastly, Eastern could invite a Division II program to O’Brien Stadium like they did two years ago when the Panthers defeated California (Pa.) 27-0.

“We would lose money by offering a D-II program a guarantee game but it’s certainly an option,” McDuffie said.

The Knight Commission, which is a privately funded group that promotes reforms and greater presidential control of college sports, spoke out against the 12th game until the academic reforms in college athletics become clearer.

The last thing Eastern and the rest of the Ohio Valley Conference must take into consideration is how Austin Peay’s decision to return to scholarship football and therefore, the conference affect a 12-game schedule.

Logic would state the easiest solution in that regard would be to just play a nine-game conference schedule and still only have three non-conference contests. However, McDuffie stated his disapproval for that idea, which will be his position when the OVC athletic directors meet in June.

“We have stated publicly that will not be in favor of a nine-game conference schedule simply for our travel budget concerns,” McDuffie said. “We would like to keep the eight game system and rotate the school we don’t play.”

No Division I conference plays more than an eight-game conference slate. The OVC said its officials will discuss that issue among others with the schools athletic directors in meeting scheduled for June.