New proposal from the NCAA seems to me to tilt the playing field towards the most financially resourced athletic departments.
The groundbreaking proposal was sent out to Division I members and obtained by The Athletic on Tuesday morning, and it included the following recommendations:
The formation of a new subdivision made up of institutions with the highest resources that can directly compensate athletes through an “enhanced educational trust fund,” which requires the schools that opt into it an investment of at least $30,000 per year per athlete for at least half of the school’s eligible athletes. Schools would have to adhere to Title IX, providing equal monetary opportunities to both female and male athletes. Schools in the new subdivision could create their own rules separate from the rest of D-I, and those rules would allow them the ability to address policies such as scholarship limits and roster size as well as transfers and NIL. Any Division I school would be able to enter into an NIL deal with its athletes directly, which is not currently permissible. Any Division I school would be able to distribute to any athlete funding related to educational benefits without any caps on such compensation.
What I’m not understanding is why would the schools in Division 1 who don’t have lots of financial resources vote to allow this to occur. Say there’s 90 schools who would want to be part of the new well funded division. That means there’s 270+ D1 schools who don’t want to try to be a part of this new division. Can the NCAA actually make this type of change without having the member schools in that division voting on the proposal? I’m sure attorneys representing the Ivy League schools will be checking the NCAA bylaws thoroughly to make sure no shortcuts are taken to make this proposal a reality.
At this point, I don’t think the 270+ not well funded D athletic departments are going to quietly let the Texas A&Ms and Ohio States have such an incredible advantage written into the NCAA bylaws.
Post by alsostagparty on Dec 6, 2023 8:36:38 GMT -5
What better way to improve your odds of a national championship than to eliminate a large number of competitors or at least put them at a huge disadvantage? Schools (like UConn) will be conniving to be part of the Power 5. NCAA is being corrupted. Why risk an underdog knocking off a supposedly “superior” team? They simply won’t be allowed to compete.
An athletic scholarship is a form of payment for services - thats worth about 70grand at FU. Kids can get NIL money from outside the schools. The kids have a decent deal.
From ESPN.com’s article on Baker’s proposal for a new subdivision in D1:
To be part of the subdivision, schools would have to give a minimum of $30,000 per year to each of at least half their scholarship athletes -- essentially creating a minimum wage for some. For an average power conference athletic department, this would mean a minimum investment of roughly $7 million to $10 million each year, which in most cases would be less than 10% of their annual budget…
Baker's letter this week asked schools for feedback on his proposal, which hasn't yet begun grinding its way through the NCAA's formal rule-making process, which would include a vote from Division I schools. The NCAA hopes that schools will ask questions and provide suggestions that help fill in the details of how this type of a new system would work -- and what challenges it would encounter -- in practice… Would this new subdivision compete for different championships than other schools? No. While the details of how much of this proposal will work are yet to be determined, the NCAA intends to still have all Division I schools compete for the same titles -- including in March Madness tournaments. The College Football Playoff would have to decide whether a new divide within FBS football changes who has access to football's postseason.
So, all of D1 would have to vote to approve this proposal. I’m thinking there’s two groups that won’t be voting for the new subdivision. 1. Schools which don’t want to set aside 7 to 10 million dollars each year for financial assistance to its athletes in addition to full athletic scholarships. and 2. Schools which prefer the current setup where NIL collectives are outside of university control so they’re not obligated to divide the funds 50/50 with the women’s sports teams.
Also, the idea that March Madness would continue the same as it is now when a D1 subdivision is operating under different rules from other D1 schools and can make their own rules which would apply only to D1 subdivision teams makes about as much sense as expanding this year’s NCAA to 128 teams and having the 60 new teams be 30 D2 teams and 30 D3 teams—- since those divisions operate under different rules than the D1 teams do.
The 270+ “have not” schools will have little or no choice on what the 90+ schools want . If the 90+ schools don’t get what they want they could easily leave the NCAA and form their own national governing body . An exclusive organization of big money programs . The new governing body could easily negotiate is own TV package and apparel deals , etc. for their stand alone championships in all sports. It’s inevitable.
^So what do you think those 90 financially well resourced schools want? NIL collectives outside of university control or university control of financial assistance to athletes, where because of Title IX the monies would be obligated to go equally to men’s athletes and female athletes?
One possibility mentioned in the article linked to below, is some schools might use outside collectives only for their football, men’s or women’s basketball teams so those monies would not be subject to Title IX regulations.
I would think since the NCAA specifically mentioned that NIL money could not be used for recruiting incentives, that they’d want to make an example of some school which is quite openly doing that and leaving a written record of what was being offered in the prospect’s recruitment. Unless the NCAA’s plan is to wait for whatever changes are made to either their NIL policies or Congressional action, and let the wild, wild West continue until that time.
Reading the first section in the link below, football high school all-Americans are openly discussing how much the NIL offer influences their college choice. I can’t imagine how the schools those players committed to are going to be able to claim their NIL offers weren’t part of the recruitment of the player.
I really doubt this is going to be enforced as it's a silly provision to begin with. Of course, NIL is part of the decision.
I don't know a lot about the NIL process, but I would like to see it regulated in the sense that all $$$ is collected... accounted for... publicly disclosed... and distribution to athletes is handled centrally. If Duke basketball is receiving $15 million in NIL in 2023-2024... that should be disclosed - just like professional payrolls in NFL, etc..
Yesterday, the NCAA gave out what is apparently the first penalty for improperly using NIL for recruiting to Florida State’s football Offensive Coordinator, Alex Atkins.
The findings released by the NCAA Committee on Infractions described Atkins facilitating impermissible contact between a transfer portal athlete and a booster. The offensive coordinator drove the athlete to a meeting with the booster, where the supporter proposed an NIL opportunity with the Rising Spear NIL collective worth $15,000 per month. The deal would have been contingent on his enrollment at Florida State.
But Florida State offensive coordinator Alex Atkins being dealt a two-year show cause and three-game suspension is the most drastic step by the NCAA to govern NIL activity.
Where there is money there will be abuses. I think this is now going on across all college sports and will only get worse. The NCAA and the courts have opened college sports to chaos.
Post by alsostagparty on Jan 12, 2024 11:21:22 GMT -5
Next we’ll have an NCAA police force (if there isn’t one already). This is how bloated bureaucracies are built. Sports are no longer an extension of the school experience. They should just create a paid amateur league for young men who want to forego the college experience. I’m all for the high majors taking their crooked NIL system and separating from the mid majors. Let the mid majors compete against each other fairly without the NIL burdensome mess. The incentive for the athlete would be a free college education —as it used to be, and maybe a place to showcase skills for a future pro career.
Last Edit: Jan 12, 2024 11:22:48 GMT -5 by alsostagparty
Next we’ll have an NCAA police force (if there isn’t one already). This is how bloated bureaucracies are built. Sports are no longer an extension of the school experience. They should just create a paid amateur league for young men who want to forego the college experience. I’m all for the high majors taking their crooked NIL system and separating from the mid majors. Let the mid majors compete against each other fairly without the NIL burdensome mess. The incentive for the athlete would be a free college education —as it used to be, and maybe a place to showcase skills for a future pro career.
The NCAA has always enforced violations of its regulations, although the consistency and timeliness of its enforcement is often questioned. What is new here is this is the first instance of enforcing the current NIL regulations of the NCAA which prohibit schools from using NIL offers in the recruiting of players. The NCAA might change that regulation in the upcoming months but it is the current policy. What has confused many schools is, until yesterday, the NCAA had not enforced its regulation prohibiting schools from using NIL offers in the recruiting process—- although anecdotal evidence seemed to indicate many schools were doing exactly that.
Tony Stubblefield was let go as the head coach of DePaul men’s basketball today. Jeff Goodman seems to think DePaul made the move now instead of at the end of the season as a way to jumpstart NIL contributions to the school.
Goodman claims DePaul’s collectives have a little under $500,000 available for its athletes. Don’t know if that number is totally for basketball or for all its athletes. Many other Big East teams, according to Goodman, have around 2 million dollars or more in their NIL collectives.