NCAA board approves recommendations for Division I reform

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — At the NCAA conventionThursday, outgoing President Mark Emmert said goodbye, incomingPresident Charlie Baker introduced himself and the state of collegesports was declared perilous.

“As a collective enterprise, we are both thriving andthreatened,” said Baylor President Linda Livingstone, who is thechairwoman of the NCAA’s Board of Governors.

Livingstone handled most of the annual state of college sportsaddress with the NCAA in a period of both transition andtransformation.

Earlier in the day, the Division I Board of Directors approved ahost of recommendations intended to reform the top-tier of collegesports, from membership standards to the size of championshipbrackets.

But Livingstone reiterated what has become a familiar refrainfrom college sports leaders during her time on stage, sayingfederal intervention is needed.

“We need a safe harbor to a certain degree from antitrustcomplaints,” Livingstone said. “We’re not looking for, nor do weneed, a broad antitrust exemption. But we do need the ability tomake common sense rules without limitless threats oflitigation.”

Amid a patchwork of state laws, the NCAA is struggling toregulate the way athletes can now be compensated for the use oftheir names, images and likenesses. The association lifted its banon athletes being paid by sponsors and endorsers in July 2021 andmany within college sports worry it has quickly become a way toinduce recruits or pay for play.

There are also multiple movements to grant college athletesemployee status.

Livingstone said while it is essential college athletes notbecome employees of the schools in which they attend, that doesn’tmean they couldn’t eventually be compensated.

“That’s one of the questions that we’re working on, trying toanswer that question,” she said during a news conference after heraddress to membership. “It’s why protection of the status of ourstudent-athletes is so important, that they be viewed as sort of aunique status on our campus, that they would not be employees.”

Baker, the former Republican governor of Massachusetts, wasbrought in to lead the NCAA because of his reputation as aconsensus builder in a mostly Democratic state.

He conceded getting federal legislation passed is challenging,but not having it might not be an option.

“I do believe that there are serious issues with just lettingthis train run without doing something to deal with theconsequences that are currently facing college sports,” he said inthe news conference after he briefly addressed membership.

Baker doesn’t start until March 1. He attended the convention ona mini-listening tour. He said his notes over the last few days ofmeeting with NCAA staff, school administrators, conferencecommissioners and athletes filled an entire notebook.

Emmert thanked the membership for allowing him to serve at thetop of the NCAA for 12 years and congratulated them on makingmassive changes in college sports that have benefited athletes.

And he said he was “absolutely delighted” with the choice of hissuccessor.

“It’s got to be a challenging role. You know that Charlie, youknow that this is not a cakewalk. Anything but,” Emmert said.

Livingstone has been an active participant in the NCAA’s recentefforts to reform from within as part of the Divisiontransformation committee. The committee made its final reportpublic last week and D-I Board of Director’s approval came Thursdayat the convention.

“Keep in mind these are concepts at this point,” said GeorgiaPresident Jere Morehead, the chairman of the board. “So there’sstill a lot of work to be done on the details, but tremendousprogress was made today. The board was very adamant its support ofstudent-athletes and most of the transformation committeerecommendations focused on how to enhance the experience forstudent-athletes.”

The report called for more sport-by-sport governance in DivisionI, more involvement by athletes in governance and enhancedexpectations for D-I schools with a goal of creating a more uniformexperience for athletes.

Transformation committee co-chairs Greg Sankey, commissioner ofthe Southeastern Conference, and Julie Cromer, Ohio Universityathletic director, reiterated in a joint statement the work oftransforming Division I will continue beyond the committee’swork.

“We’re confident these important changes will meet the needs ofstudent-athletes because they were rooted in the perspective ofstudent-athletes,” they said. “In fact, we’re confident thatstudent-athletes’ voices have never featured more prominently inshaping how college sports is run.”

The committee recommended allowing 25% of teams in sportssponsored by at least 200 schools to compete in annual championshipevents. That opens the door to possible expansion of the popularMarch Madness basketball tournaments from 68 to as many as 90 teamseach.

The board also approved the creation of a second, 32-teampostseason tournament in Division I women’s basketball. Thetournament would be similar to men’s NIT, which is owned andoperated by the NCAA.

The tournament was part of the recommendations from anindependent gender equity review and is intended to provide anequal number of NCAA-funded postseason opportunities in men’s andwomen’s basketball.