Dempsey, the former Arizona administrator who has been at his NCAA post for three months, met two weeks ago with 12 football players from across the country on the subject. He said most of them agreed the championship should be decided on the field, but expressed concerns about academics, loss of free time and possible compensation.
The I-A champion is determined by two polls. Other football divisions have held playoffs for years to determine their national champions.
Dempsey said the NCAA has talked with at least six television networks or cable stations about the potential playoff.
The NCAA also announced it is creating a new division, education services, to handed educational programs and resources related to minority, women's and student-athlete issues.
In other college news:
* Ohio State basketball player Rickey Dudley will begin practicing with the Buckeyes' football team on Tuesday, after getting basketball coach Randy Ayers's approval to play tight end.
* Reserve West Virginia quarterback Scott Otis will leave the team and transfer, coach Don Nehlen said.
* A funeral will be held today for Stephen F. Austin linebacker Cally Belcher, who died Tuesday at age 22, a week after collapsing at practice.
* Boston University beat Minnesota, 4-1, and Lake Superior State edged Harvard, 3-2, to reach tomorrow's NCAA hockey title game.
* Former Washington football player Jason Shelley was convicted of second- degree assault in Seattle for breaking an opponent's jaw during a pickup basketball game.
TENNIS
* Hana Mandlikova, winner of four Grand Slam singles titles, and tennis writer and commentator Bud Collins will be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I., July 9.
* Top-seeded Pete Sampras held off fellow American Jeff Tarango, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-4), in the Salem Open in Osaka, Japan. Fourth-seeded Ivan Lendl lost and fifth-seeded Andre Agassi won.
* Top-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario beat Amanda Coetzer, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, to reach the quarterfinals of the Family Circle Cup in Hilton Head Island, S.C.
SOCCER
* Argentina soccer star Diego Maradona said he's again thinking of retiring
from soccer before this year's World Cup, telling a radio interviewer he is ''fed up" with press scrutiny of his life. Maradona has been ineffective since his 15-month suspension for cocaine use began in March 1991.
* Members of Greece's national soccer team are demanding bonuses from the Greek Soccer Federation for playing in this summer's World Cup.
AUTO RACING
* Two-time winner and defending champion Emerson Fittipaldi, past winners Mario Andretti and Al Unser Jr., Paul Tracy, Nigel Mansell, Jimmy Vasser and rookie Adrian Fernandez entered this year's Indianapolis 500.
* Federal officials said pilot Charlie Campbell's failure to use proper anti-icing procedures during icing conditions probably caused the plane crash last April 1 that killed NASCAR driver Alan Kulwicki in Blountville, Tenn.
AMERICA'S CUP
* Nearly 600 women have applied for tryouts for the first all-women's America's Cup crew in the three weeks since the concept was announced, the America3 Foundation said.
