LAS VEGAS — NCAA president Charlie Baker stated Wednesday his proposal to permit probably the most extremely resourced faculties in Division I to pay athletes via a belief fund is simply a place to begin as he tries to shift the affiliation to be extra proactive than reactive.
“We need to be able to anticipate where conversations are going and to try to get this big, huge, diverse 180-committee with 2,000 members — like oh, my God! — to a place where they’re talking about stuff that’s common, and not just responding and reacting to other people’s agendas,” Baker stated throughout an look on the Sports Business Journal’s Intercollegiate Athletic Forum.
On Monday, Baker laid forth an aggressive and probably groundbreaking imaginative and prescient for a brand new NCAA subdivision on the very prime of school sports activities in a letter he despatched to the greater than 350 Division I faculties.
“Some people are going to say you’re going too far and people will say but you’re not going far enough,” Baker stated. “I promise you that’s going to be where most of the dialogue on this will be in the short term.”
Baker’s proposal would require faculties that wish to be part of the brand new tier of D-I to pay their athletes tens of 1000’s of {dollars} per 12 months on prime of their athletic scholarships. Baker additionally recommended all Division I faculties ought to convey title, picture and likeness compensation for his or her athletes in-house via group licensing offers and take away any limits on academic advantages faculties can present for athletes.
Baker stated the proposal was shaped from an amalgamation of conversations he has had with directors and athletes from throughout faculty sports activities.
Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey famous he didn’t see Baker’s letter till it went out Tuesday.
He stated any makes an attempt to reform faculty sports activities will likely be addressed in 5 arenas: the courts, Congress, state legislatures, conferences and the NCAA.
“All of those have to be part of the solution,” Sankey stated.
Baker stated he believes about 100 faculties may take into account opting into a brand new subdivision.
There are 133 faculties in Division 1 soccer’s highest tier, the Football Bowl Subdivision. Baker’s proposal appears focused at about half these faculties that compete within the 5 energy conferences. That variety of conferences is shrinking to 4 after latest realignment strikes go into impact subsequent 12 months, however it would nonetheless embody about 65 faculties.
Baker stated the variations in price range sizes throughout Division I, and even into Division II and III, have historically prompted conflicts within the NCAA. He needs the faculties which have the flexibility to spend extra on their athletes, to be free accomplish that.
“Recognizing that we’re trying to be supportive as to a big tent approach but, as you saw yesterday with Charlie’s memo, there’s a new reality here,” Sankey stated.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”