NCAA President Charlie Baker is asking members to make the most dramatic change in the history of college sports by allowing deep-pocketed schools to pay some of their players.
In the letter sent Baker announced Tuesday that the association would create a new tier for NCAA Division I sports that would require schools to pay at least half of their players at least $30,000 annually through a trust fund for more than 350 Division I schools. He said he wanted it.
Baker also proposed allowing all Division I schools to provide unlimited educational benefits and enter into name, image and likeness licensing agreements with athletes.
He said the disparity in resources between the wealthiest schools in Division I’s top tier, known as the Football Bowl Subdivision, and the other DI members and hundreds of schools in Divisions II and III is creating “a new set of He said it was creating “issues.”
Baker, a former Massachusetts governor, wrote, “The challenges are not only financial but also competitive, and are further complicated by name, image and likeness opportunities for student-athletes and the advent of transfer portals.” He was appointed to the NCAA position in March.
Baker is scheduled to speak Wednesday at the Sports Business Journal’s Intercollegiate Athletic Forum in Las Vegas.
Division I soccer is currently divided into FBS and FCS (Football Championship Subdivision), which have 133 teams.
Baker’s proposal aims to create a new division encompassing all sports, the most prolific of the so-called Power Five conferences (Big Ten, Southeastern Conference, Big 12, Atlantic Coast Conference, Pac-12). The aim is to enable competitive divisions to operate in a different way than in the past. The rest while competing with the rest of Division I teams.
Meeting rescheduling From 2024 It would take the Pac-12 out of that group.
The proposed transition does not require all members of the meeting to be part of the new department. Schools would be allowed to make that decision on an individual basis.
Baker said Division I athletic budgets range from $5 million to $250 million annually, with 59 schools spending more than $100 million annually and 32 schools spending more than $50 million. Ta. But he said the 259 Division I schools spend less than $50 million on their athletic programs.
Baker said schools that participate in revenue-generating college sports such as major college football and basketball, and differences in how most college sports are run, complicate attempts to modernize the entire enterprise. .
“The situation is similarly difficult, as courts and other public authorities continue to debate reform proposals that, in many cases, would severely damage some or all of college athletics.” wrote.
Mountain West Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said at the Sports Business Journal’s Intercollegiate Sports Forum that fragmentation could trigger the NCAA to exclude some schools from championship events or cut back on revenue. This raised fears of losing it. Mr. Nevarez did not read Mr. Baker’s proposal that way.
“When I read it… it was about a space for governance,” she said.
Baker and college sports coaches petitioned the parliament Assist the NCAA with federal legislation regulating how athletes are paid for NIL contracts.
“I support your efforts 100 percent. Intercollegiate Athletics needs the positivity and forward thinking you all provide,” said Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith. he said in a post on social media platform X.
Smith oversees the nation’s largest athletic department with annual operating costs of more than $225 million.
Former Southern California and NFL star Reggie Bush said he was “long overdue” for schools to fund players.
Bush, who was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame on Tuesday night in Las Vegas, was the focus of an NCAA inadmissible benefits violation lawsuit during his career at the University of Southern California, and the Trojans and Bush’s 2005 Heisman All-American. This led to the title being stripped. Obtain a trophy.
Baker’s letter is a positive step toward major changes for the NCAA. Turning his vision into detailed legislation will require feedback from members, a lot of work by the Division I Council, and final approval from the Division I Board of Governors.
There is no timeline for implementing this proposal.
The NCAA is also facing new legal threat It could give status to athlete employees and force members to share in the billions of dollars in revenue generated by major college football and basketball. 1 antitrust law If the case proceeds in federal court, it could cost the NCAA billions of dollars in damages.
Baker called on NCAA schools to create a new framework that he called “fundamental change.”
“First, we need to ensure that all Division I universities provide their student-athletes with enhanced educational benefits at whatever level they deem appropriate. Second, Division I schools must “The rules should be changed to provide student-athletes with the opportunity to license their name, image, and likeness rights at their option,” he wrote. “These two changes will expand the economic opportunities available to all Division I student-athletes.”
Currently, schools are allowed, but not required, to provide athletes with a $5,980 annual education stipend under NCAA rules.
Baker said the changes will force schools to adhere to gender equality regulations when making investments and help level the playing field for boys and girls athletics.
He said schools in the new tier of Division I, while complying with Title IX, must “invest at least $30,000 annually in an enhanced educational trust fund for at least half of their eligible student-athletes.” said that it should be recognized.
The new DI division should allow members to create their own rules regarding “scholarship commitments and roster size, recruiting, transfers, or NILs,” he said.
Mid-American Conference Commissioner John Steinbrecher said Baker’s proposal only defines what already exists, with each school in the power conference being financially independent and already having an athlete base. He said it offers greater benefits and has some autonomy in the NCAA’s legislative process.
“I think a lot of people are probably saying this is a precursor to a big departure from the power conferences (from the NCAA),” Steinbrecher said. “I would like to suggest to you that it is exactly the opposite. The pressure valve will come off.”