The National Collegiate Athletic Association has changed some of its travel policies for athletes competing in sports championships this fall because of rising fuel costs and reduced airline capacity.

Team travel costs in Division I have grown 31 percent since last year, and NCAA officials are projecting an increase of $6-million or $7-million in the coming academic year. They expect the revised policies, which took effect in late September after approval by the NCAA’s Division I Championships and Sports Management Cabinet, to save the association $500,000 in travel costs.

Although individual institutions pay for their own travel to and from games during the regular season, the NCAA, which administers national-championship tournaments, arranges and pays for travel to and from those competitions.

The new rules call for an increase in the mileage cutoff for air travel. Under the old policy, Division I teams within 350 miles of a tournament had to drive there. Now they must drive if the competition is 400 miles away. The association is also asking teams traveling on commercial airlines to venture farther afield to find an airport where a carrier offers cheaper fares: Under the new policy, that cutoff is 150 miles instead of 120 miles.

The NCAA may apply the revised policies to winter and spring championships as well, and will weigh additional proposals to curb teams’ travel costs at its annual convention, in January. —Libby Sander