With new college football subdivision proposal, NCAA finally admits its amateurism model is dead

LAS VEGAS — If there is a college athletics revolution in the near future, the NCAA is now admitting it wants to be part of it.

In a letter sent to membership Tuesday, NCAA president Charlie Baker proposed sweeping changes to his association’s amateurism model that would essentially create pay for play between schools and athletes.

Baker proposed a new subdivision consisting of schools “with the highest resources” that would likely separate itself from the rest of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) — as well as the rest of Division I — with its own rules and regulations. The remaining schools in FBS would still have access to the College Football Playoff.

The new subdivision would give schools the ability to arrange NIL deals for athletes with no cap on compensation. That signals an unrestricted, direct pay for play model that is a nod toward current lawsuits that seek to remove regulations around compensation.

Schools would be required to invest at least $30,000 per athlete annually in an “enhanced educational trust fund” for “at least half” of its athletes.

The “highest resources” reference had stakeholders buzzing Tuesday morning as folks wondered whether such language could trigger another round of realignment.

While the Power Five conferences will go forward as the Power Four amid the collapse of the Pac-12, there is a general feeling that the Big Ten and SEC have, at least in theory, separated themselves from everyone else by virtue of their new media rights deals.

Baker’s proposal would formalize a new major-college subdivision for the first time since 1978.

“This is the true break [from the rest of the FBS],” one athletic director said Tuesday.

Prior to Tuesday, the association had mostly been reactive to big-ticket…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/with-new-college-football-subdivision-proposal-ncaa-finally-admits-its-amateurism-model-is-dead/

Author : Dennis Dodd

Publish date : 2023-12-05 23:55:13

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