In a move that is both radical and inevitable, the NCAA is planning to propose a new Division I subdivision that would allow schools to directly compensate their athletes.
The proposal appears to avoid categorizing athletes as employees of their school, instead allowing each school to opt in to a new subdivision in which athletes could license their Name, Image and Likeness rights directly to their schools.
“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,” NCAA president Charlie Baker wrote in a letter to schools. “Colleges and universities need to be more flexible, and the NCAA needs to be more flexible, too.”
The proposal comes as FBS prepares to launch a 12-team playoff next year in which teams could play up to 17 games a year, stretching from early September to mid-to-late January. The new 12-team bracket could be worth up to $2 billion per year in TV rights alone.
Schools would be required to "invest" at least $30,000 per year to an "enhanced educational trust fund" to at least half of its countable athletes. Title IX rules would still apply, which means at least half of the athletes receiving the $30,000 a year would need to be women.
Those opting in to the new subdivision would not be limited to $30,000 per year; that figure would simply be the starting point.
“The growing financial gap between the highest-resourced colleges and universities and other schools in Division I has created a new series of challenges,” Baker wrote. “The challenges are competitive as well as financial and are complicated further by the intersection of name, image and likeness opportunities for student-athletes and the arrival of the Transfer Portal.”
