NCAA president Charlie Baker has recently come forward with an innovative proposal aimed at transforming the collegiate sports sector.
NEWS: NCAA president Charlie Baker is proposing a new FBS subdivision that would permit schools to directly compensate athletes through a trust fund and NIL. pic.twitter.com/aZsYyoqRgv
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) December 5, 2023
The key feature of this proposal is the provision that would allow the highest-resource schools to directly compensate athletes through a trust fund and Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) payments.
This unique approach has the potential to reshape the college sports landscape.
Charlie Baker, in his quest to change the traditional norms of college sports, wants to forge a new path by permitting athletes to be directly compensated.
Under the proposed model, the highest-resource institutions would be directly accountable for compensating athletes through an “enhanced educational trust fund”.
This would require schools to invest at least $30,000 annually for half of their eligible athletes. Additionally, schools would have to comply with Title IX, ensuring equal monetary opportunities for both female and male athletes.
Schools in the proposed subdivision would be allowed to formulate their own rules, separate from the rest of Division I.
As part of this autonomy, these schools could define policies on scholarship limits, roster sizes, transfers, and NIL payments.
Unlike the current setup, the proposed model will permit any Division I school to enter in an NIL deal with its athletes directly.
Moreover, these schools will also be able to distribute educational benefits-related funding to athletes, without caps on compensation.
The proposal comes as a response to increasing demands for schools to directly compensate athletes and to the legal challenges threatening the existing NCAA model.
President Baker describes the proposal as a “forward-looking framework,” offering the most high-profile educational institutions the flexibility to operate rules reflecting their financial capabilities and operating models.
The proposal allows schools in both Division I subdivisions to compete against each other for NCAA championships, with an exception for FBS football.
Interestingly, it’s evident that Baker’s reference to highest-resourced schools likely points to those in the Power 4 leagues: the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, and Big 12.
In addition to starting necessary conversations within the community regarding differences between schools, Baker’s proposed model encourages a more flexible and student-centric approach.
As Baker writes, “Colleges and universities need to be more flexible, and the NCAA needs to be more flexible, too.”
This proposed subdivision would likely be within the FBS, similar in nature to the much-discussed power-conference split.
It has indeed started a “long-overdue discussion” among the NCAA members concerning the disparities between schools and divisions, and how to create rules that prioritize student-athletes.
