As far as i know, automatic bids fork as follows 1. each bona fide league (league has been approved as a league in the sport by the NC2A, has the requisite number of members or has been granted an exception as CHA was when it dropped to 5, and has satisfied any probationary period proscribed by the NC2A) is entitled to an automatic bid 2. the league gets to decide, i believe subject to NC2A ratification, which team gets the autobid. Normally, the choices have been for leagues to select the regular season champion or the league tournament champion as the benefactors. Most leagues use the latter. some things i've noted in other sports and other divisions: 1. six is not enough, and 8 is probably enough 2. even sizes are better than odd sizes 3. balanced schedules (if you like that sort of thing) don't work for league sizes bigger than about 10 4. travel to all sites is not created equal a) alaska is time consuming b) schools not located particularly near major airports will normally either have to change planes or take extended bus rides. The ones that come to mind are huntsville, the upper peninsula teams, bemidji, and north dakota c) it is always entertaining to use trip routing software to see how long a bus ride will be, and if the distance is over the NC2A threshhold for air travel. omaha to colorado springs about 9 hours omaha to south bend about 8 hours (548 miles) no, i'm not picking on omaha. when my daughter lived there, i'd make the drive regularly. (i know, i know) 5. comparing relative team performance across leagues is, at best, a nightmare /"\ ASCII Ribbon | charlie shub (719) 255-3492 \ / Campaign Against | [log in to unmask] (cell) 761-8778 X HTML in e-mail | http://cs.uccs.edu/~cdash (fax) 255-3369 / \ and news | University of Colorado Colorado Springs