Never mind that coaches complained about it. Never mind that it doesn't make any sense from a competitive aspect. Never mind that it’s really a safety issue. But what you should keep in mind is that NCA gets this one completely wrong.
All teams will receive a .1 bonus for adding your mascot to your Game Day performance.
NCA will reason that the game day portion of camp promotes what should happen at a game. Time out performances should utilize signs, poms, megaphones, flags and other attention gathering equipment including the school mascot. Therefore, NCA encouraged the use of the mascot in game day. However, this was the wrong answer for several reasons.
As if NCA nationals are not expensive enough as it is, now they have basically required teams to bring an additional participant. That's $508.00 in registration fees for a non camp qualifier (not everyone goes to their camps). Then you have to tack on another $250 for a flight (unless driving). In some cases, where an all girl team travels with 20 athletes plus a female coach or two, there is the potential that there has to be an extra room for a male mascot, that's another $750 for the room. This could even happen with a coed team. At some universities, where meal stipends are given while traveling there would be that additional expense as well. As you can see, it's not just an easy thing to incorporate the mascot on the trip.
From a competitive aspect, this also is the wrong move. Who is going to pay all that additional money for 45 seconds? It does not justify itself. Sure the .10 is great, but the expense can be challenging for many teams that do not receive funding for nationals. The rule is clearly a disadvantage for club teams who are not the school’s athletic department teams. In their cases, using the university mascot is typically not an option because of their lack of status as the school's official spirit squad. NCA knows that this is the case and that the bonus is an inherent disadvantage for those teams. Why allow them to compete if the rules are going to be against them? This isn't a reward, it's a penalty.
In some cases, schools do not have mascots. Some universities simply don't have a character that performs at games or represents the university with a physical presence. What if the typical role of the mascot at games is purposefully limited by the marketing/operations people to interaction only in the stands and other spectator areas? How then is this representing what the team does at a game if they don't typically use the mascot at a game during timeouts?
In one specific case, the school is changing from one mascot version to another and does not officially have a character at this time. Why should teams like this be penalized by being at a .10 disadvantage to other teams. What if the difference in placing or making finals is that .10? NCA will say studies that removed game day scores don't affect nearly any prelims results. So why not just put it as part of the category with "use of props" if it’s not even that important? It just doesn't make competitive sense to create a near automatic penalty for some teams.
Safety is an issue at hand as well. There were two cases this past nationals where mascots were involved with near collisions or clearly were in the way of athletes during the game day or team routine. While the mascot is allowed to leave after game day, it isn't required and the expense of bring the mascot encourages coaches to potentially get the most out of having them there. The University of Louisville typically uses their mascot in every cheer teams' routines. Look at the amount of intricate and elite tumbling patterns they have. It's a wonder there hasn't been a major collision with their mascot. But typically the safety issues don’t happen with the elite teams, they happen with less experienced teams.
Basically, the importance of using the mascot is a matter of opinion on NCA's part. NCA admits that the game day score is not even a significant factor in deciding advancement to finals. If this is the case, why create a disadvantage and not just put the mascot as part of the props category? Game day already had developed a negative perception from coaches that it was a burden, unnecessary and simply a bad component to have to incorporate with your actual routine score. What did NCA finally do? Just look at the comparative score sheet for each division. The game day score now is just a standard 11 given to every team unless you have penalties, drops or other glaring mistakes. It's a "gimme" score now.
If it’s really that unimportant, then eliminate the .10 mascot penalty!
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