The writing is on the wall for the NCAA

[8timechamps]

This is a rather lengthy read, but it's packed full of possible changes: Power 5 Conference proposals (http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/writer/dennis-dodd/24532563/autonomy-defined-ncaa-boards-agenda-for-change-this-week)

In a nutshell, CBS' Dennis Dodd read and commented on an 82-page document (the "agenda" for the NCAA D1 Board of Directors meeting on April 24)...It looks like the Power 5 ("P5") conferences are ready to tell the NCAA "meet our requirements, or we're outta here". The proposals are many and will change the landscape of college football (athletics). Keep in mind, these changes are proposed for the entire D1 community, but are "elective" for schools outside of the P5. In other words, schools that can't afford these changes can choose not to use them. Here are some of the proposed changes:



Paying for athletes families to attend post season events (NCAA tourney, bowl games, etc).
Paying for travel and accommodations for at least two parents on recruiting trips.
Covering the "Cost of Attendance" for the student athlete (The difference between the scholarship amount and the actual cost of living).
Big Changes in the way players work with agents prior to leaving school.
Reducing the amount of time a player must commit to his/her sport. (Currently, the NCAA mandates no more than 20 hours per week, but the real number is closer to 40-50 if you add in film study, "voluntary workouts", etc.).


Really sounds like the P5 are serious about getting rid of a lot of the old, archaic (moronic) rules that have brought down the NCAA for years. We'll see how this plays out this week.

[KantoSooner]

So, in essence the P5 create a new 'upper division' and the remnants of Div 1 can either a) pay to keep up or b) relegate themselves to permanent second class citizenship or c) join FBS (Div 2)?
I'm good with that.
And I'm also thinking that with the 300 or so vacant channels on my cable networks, there's room to televise a LOT more football. Maybe not at the 'Game of the Week' level, but still. Your local tire shop could buy advertising time.

[badger]

Any other English Premiere League soccer watchers out there? Take the top football programs in college and "relegate" the lower once till they're ready to compete :)

[8timechamps]

So, in essence the P5 create a new 'upper division' and the remnants of Div 1 can either a) pay to keep up or b) relegate themselves to permanent second class citizenship or c) join FBS (Div 2)?
I'm good with that.
And I'm also thinking that with the 300 or so vacant channels on my cable networks, there's room to televise a LOT more football. Maybe not at the 'Game of the Week' level, but still. Your local tire shop could buy advertising time.

That's pretty much the gist of it.

In reality, the "lower" D1 schools aren't traditionally able to compete with the P5 school, so it's not much of a change for them. It's not as if Idaho was going to miss out on that amazing 5 star player because OU could pay to fly his family to his recruiting visit. Traditionally (historically), Idaho was never going to beat OU for that player. So, it's status quo for the smaller schools.

The author of that piece (Dennis Dodd) made a point about the timing of this meeting. The Northwestern players are scheduled to vote on their union status on Friday, the 25th. The NCAA meeting happened to be scheduled for Thursday, the 24th. Coincidence?

[KantoSooner]

No.

[Soonerjeepman]

hope my kid gets some D1 looks for baseball after juco!

[swardboy]

Good luck. I didn't realize so few schollies are available in baseball until recently.

[Bill Creech]

Will P5 still have to foot the bill for the rest of the NCAA? If so, it would be better to get out all together.

[8timechamps]

Will P5 still have to foot the bill for the rest of the NCAA? If so, it would be better to get out all together.

Based on what I've read, no. That's why they're trying to make the new framework "optional" for the non P5 member schools.

[jkjsooner]

c) join FBS (Div 2)?

I'm being picky here but I think you meant "FCS" and "Div 1AA". ;-)

[jkjsooner]

This goes along with what I've been saying. There just isn't enough money for these changes to apply uniformly throughout FBS. The majority of the schools lose money as it is.

With only 24 or so athletic departments in the black, it's a little hard to see how every school in the power conferences can get this done. Then again, if it's a choice between facility upgrades and giving a stipend to players these schools will pick the latter as the stipend would quickly become a requirement to remain competitive.

[KantoSooner]

I'm being picky here but I think you meant "FCS" and "Div 1AA". ;-)

I think you're right. I'm old. <think of cranky old man voice> "Back in my daaaaayyy, we only had three divisions and BiGod, evveybuddy knew where they fitted."

[badger]

Good luck. I didn't realize so few schollies are available in baseball until recently.

Equivalency sport, so there's not necessarily fewer scholarships, there's just a lot less scholarship money to go around. Instead of a "full ride," they only have to offer a 25 percent (or more) based on availability, as some schools don't even offer the maximum that the NCAA allows.

It's not as bad as it once was, where teams could give far less, like 5 percent. You might as well be a walk-on

[8timechamps]

This goes along with what I've been saying. There just isn't enough money for these changes to apply uniformly throughout FBS. The majority of the schools lose money as it is.

With only 24 or so athletic departments in the black, it's a little hard to see how every school in the power conferences can get this done. Then again, if it's a choice between facility upgrades and giving a stipend to players these schools will pick the latter as the stipend would quickly become a requirement to remain competitive.

The conferences will have to figure that part out. Obviously Iowa State doesn't make the same money as Oklahoma or Texas, so the Big XII will have to figure out a way to support the schools that can't support themselves. Which brings up a question; if schools are too far in the red that it would require too much of a bailout from the conferences, are they going to be exempt, or pushed out of the P5? There's a lot involved here, and a lot of questions left to be addressed.

[CatfishSooner]

Any other English Premiere League soccer watchers out there? Take the top football programs in college and "relegate" the lower once till they're ready to compete :)

I like the idea of this...let the best teams play in the top tier.... if a program starts sucking relegate them down - if a program starts playing good, give them a chance.

It does seem like it would be (legally) difficult to dump the money-losers...but I'm sure it's possible.

[jkjsooner]

I like the idea of this...let the best teams play in the top tier.... if a program starts sucking relegate them down - if a program starts playing good, give them a chance.

It does seem like it would be (legally) difficult to dump the money-losers...but I'm sure it's possible.

Ever since I learned of the Premiere League way of doing business (not a soccer fan), I thought it would be cool to incorporate that into FBS/FCS. Take the lower 10% in FBS and the upper 10% in FCS and swap them every year.

It would be hard to do that with teams affiliated with conferences but it's fun to think about. Even the cruddy power conference teams would have little to worry about. If they dropped down to FCS they'd be there for one year and then back in FBS.

[badger]

Ever since I learned of the Premiere League way of doing business (not a soccer fan), I thought it would be cool to incorporate that into FBS/FCS. Take the lower 10% in FBS and the upper 10% in FCS and swap them every year.

Perhaps conferences need to be suspended during football season but used for other seasons. There's precedent in two forms --- some schools aren't affiliated with conferences in football (i.e. BYU, Notre Dame) and some schools are affiliated with different conferences only during certain sports seasons (i.e. Mizzou is not SEC for wrestling, OU is not Big 12 for rowing).

This might finally end those annoying SEC chants as well, both as a taunt and as a loser's battle cry

[jkjsooner]

Speaking of conferences... Here is something I'd like to see. Rather than having bigger and bigger conferences, there should be smaller conferences of 6 to 8 schools. Think of it like splitting up the current conferences in two just as they have divisions. Let's assume for argument's sake the Big 12 still has the original 12 and two divisions. Then these smaller conferences set up alliances on a year-by-year basis. One year the Big 12 South may be aligned with the SEC West. Another year they may be aligned with one of the PAC 12 conferences. You'd have a championship game and everything just as they do now.

I think it would be awesome. You would get more variety in scheduling. You would still keep your affiliation with the schools you traditionally play.

[badger]

I think it would be awesome. You would get more variety in scheduling. You would still keep your affiliation with the schools you traditionally play.

As a fan I love it. If I'm an athletic director, I'd half-love it. It would solve non-conference scheduling headaches, but at the same time, not satisfy the administration's need for as many home games as possible, as these cross-conference games would likely either be at neutral sites or home-and-home.

[Mazeppa]

http://msn.foxsports.com/college-football/story/ncaa-board-endorses-more-power-for-big-schools1-042414

[8timechamps]

The wheels are in motion...


If the reports are accurate, the "new system" will be in place by 2015. Now, will the NCAA accept their lower position on the totem pole? I don't think they have a choice, it's either accept it or fade away.

[ashley]

The sky is not falling. Just watch.

[8timechamps]

The sky is not falling. Just watch.

I certainly didn't think it was (I'm sure there are some that think that way). This is a much needed and long overdue change.

[KantoSooner]

Since the NCAA was of and for its members, this is more on the order of a secession than a revolution. The members with less money/power can choose to either acquiesce in their new second class citizenship or force a formal split and watch the money/power head down the road.
Now, relative to the 'lower' members, the Power 5 have all the cards. They have the, wait for it, money and power. But that might not be the entire game. I"m not so certain that such organizations are immune from legal challenge, a la OU and Georgia's (?) tv rights challenge. The P5 might just find that they've opened a can of worms and may come to look back on what went before with some nostalgia. Not saying it's sure, but it wouldn't surprise me. There are a lot of people out there who have no love in their hearts for big time college sports.

[8timechamps]

Since the NCAA was of and for its members, this is more on the order of a secession than a revolution. The members with less money/power can choose to either acquiesce in their new second class citizenship or force a formal split and watch the money/power head down the road.
Now, relative to the 'lower' members, the Power 5 have all the cards. They have the, wait for it, money and power. But that might not be the entire game. I"m not so certain that such organizations are immune from legal challenge, a la OU and Georgia's (?) tv rights challenge. The P5 might just find that they've opened a can of worms and may come to look back on what went before with some nostalgia. Not saying it's sure, but it wouldn't surprise me. There are a lot of people out there who have no love in their hearts for big time college sports.

Good analogy.

I'm not going to say the P5 will get through this without push-back, but I think the NCAA v. OU/Georgia case doesn't really translate to now. College football was just beginning to recognize what they had (in terms of a commodity). Fast forward to today, and this is a money train. College football outgrew (for lack of a better word) the NCAA years ago. The members themselves are to blame for that, and now they view the system as "too broke to fix". Rather than going through the rigors of revamping the existing framework, they want to distance themselves from it without killing it outright. I think they realize that even though they have the money and power, they still need the 'lower' members. By keeping the NCAA around in some capacity, it helps the lesser programs (in essence meaning 'no change' to those schools) while allotting themselves the power to change the way things work. I think even the NCAA executive committee knows this is the only viable way to move forward (especially in the face of the unionization and lawsuits).