College leaders on Thursday took the first step in changing how college athletics are governed.
NCAA member schools voted to ratify a new constitution that gives schools at each of the association’s levels — Division I, II and III — the autonomy to create their own policies. The vote, which was held as part of the NCAA’s annual convention in Indianapolis, was heavily in favor with 801 votes for and 195 opposed.
It’s the latest change in a landscape of college athletics that’s full of it. Schools are still trying to wrap their arms around the one-time transfer waiver and name, image and likeness (NIL) compensation for their student-athletes from third parties. Now, with Thursday’s vote, each division has to figure out the best way to go about governing itself, including 350 schools at the Division I level.
That may make the Division I Transformation Committee’s job the most challenging of all. The committee, comprised primarily of athletic administrators and university presidents, is tasked with implementing blanket rules among schools with varying interests and budgets within their athletic departments. Some Power Five schools have annual budgets exceeding $100 million while some Football Championship Subdivision budgets are barely above $10 million.
Yet those schools compete against each other within some of the sport’s biggest revenue generators, including the NCAA basketball tournament, the largest of them all. Power Five schools are going to want to keep more revenue since their television deals are the ones generating nearly all of it, but smaller schools still need that revenue to be shared with them in order to stay afloat.
It’s a case of the haves against the have-nots in which there’s concern among the latter of falling even further behind. It’s not out of the question that a fourth division is created as part of the NCAA’s restructuring. It’s also possible the 10 Football Bowl Subdivision conferences, or at least the Power Five, secede from the NCAA and form a separate organization in the future.
The transformation committee is slated to meet weekly over the next six months with hopes that reform can go into effect as early as August, according to The Associated Press. Whatever it ultimately looks like, Thursday’s vote ensured more change is coming in the world of college athletics.
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