https://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa-proposing ... 51537.html
Of the many recent changes in college athletics, the most transformative — and revolutionary — may be on the way.
NCAA president Charlie Baker is planning to introduce this week a proposal to create a new subdivision within Division I that grants certain schools more autonomy around policy-making and permits them to compensate athletes in a new and profound way.
In a letter sent to Division I members, and obtained by Yahoo Sports, Baker outlines a groundbreaking and radical change to the NCAA Division I athletics model, describing it as a “new forward-looking framework.”
According to Baker’s proposal, schools that choose to be part of the new subdivision — they can opt in or out — are required to meet a strict minimum standard rooted in athlete investment.
Members of the new subdivision will be permitted to strike name, image and likeness (NIL) deals with their own athletes — a significant move away from the current NIL structure.
This actually makes sense if the NCAA is going to exist. Everyone can acknowledge that there’s the haves and have nots in college football. The schools who can go get meaningful NIL deals for players and get 90% of the television attention. And everyone else.“It kick-starts a long-overdue conversation among the membership that focuses on the differences that exist between schools, conferences and divisions and how to create more permissive and flexible rules across the NCAA that put student-athletes first,” Baker writes in the letter. “Colleges and universities need to be more flexible, and the NCAA needs to be more flexible, too.”
It is likely inevitable that the big conferences will entirely break off from the NCAA anyways and adopt a similar program where every roster spot is compensated.
But at least the MAC schools of the world can still give their kids full ride scholarships and some extra coin on the side. For the love of the game conferences versus the semi pro conferences.