The NCAA’s Division I Transformation Committee, charged last year with charting the future of Division I, has completed its final report and presented its reform recommendations to the DI Board of Directors. The board has been briefed but will formally consider the recommendations at its meeting next week at the NCAA annual meeting.
Recommendations included a push for DI team sports sponsored by more than 200 institutions to consider expanding their fields after the season — to pave the way for sports like basketball and baseball to expand their tournaments if they wish — and a recommendation that football administration remain under the purview of the NCAA.
“There’s a magic to college sports that’s not easy to describe,” said Julie Cromer, co-chair of the Transformation Committee. “We think the big tent – a big, diverse Division I – is part of that magic. The issues we see today are worth working through to keep intact.”
Here’s what you need to know:
- The Transformation Committee recommends that DI team sports sponsored by more than 200 institutions should seek to implement a postseason that includes 25 percent of teams that meet the Division I standard in that sport. Final decisions on changes to the size of each sport’s postseason category would need to be approved by that sport’s governing body by January 2024 to be implemented in the 2024-25 academic year.
- The committee also recommends the formation of sport-specific management committees. Each Division I sport that has a national championship will have its own entity, and these administrative committees will have decision-making powers and be able to act quickly and without bureaucratic delays.
- A new requirement is recommended that all Division I schools provide track and field injury medical care for at least two years after graduation or completion of track and field experience. The requirement would be part of a more “holistic” performance model for athletes. Another part of the new model would require schools to graduate athletes on full scholarships within 10 years of graduation.
Other Key Recommendations: The group recommended that FBS reconsider its requirements for football participation “while focusing on other elements that more directly connect student and athlete experience to expectations of FBS membership criteria.” The NCAA requires an average attendance of 15,000 fans per game every two years to maintain FBS status, a measure intended to incentivize investment in football, but calls for the requirement to be lifted have gained traction in recent years .
The committee decided against changing the minimum number of sponsored sports at this time to qualify for Division I membership, but recommended that the board direct the appropriate bodies to review this in the future, “including considering a model in which Institutions are not permitted to count a sport towards meeting the minimum requirements for sports sponsorship unless it demonstrates a certain level of financial commitment to scholarships for students and athletes in that sport.”
championship sizes
Asking each sport to implement a postseason large enough to include 25 percent of the institutions they sponsor can end up with different results for different sports. What makes sense for one person may not make sense for another.
What Will Become of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament? That’s a question almost everyone in college sports has been asking themselves at some point in the last six months, and the answers vary depending on who you’re talking to. Do the math, and 25 percent of 363 teams would result in a field of around 90 teams. But a bloated brace may not be inevitable. The next step in this process will be in the hands of the sport’s stakeholders.
“Your considerations should include the implications for postseason timing, overall postseason length, necessary format changes, broadcast and other partners, budget resources, and impact on the host company’s event management,” the committee’s report reads.
This issue will now go to the Men’s Basketball Oversight Committee officials for an initial review by June 2023 and a final recommendation by January 2024 for implementation in March 2025 if changes are agreed.
“It’s a positive step forward in decision-making that these recommendations will end up with the various sports management committees, assuming they’re incorporated into a new structure,” said Cromer, who is also a member of the DI men’s basketball oversight committee. “Each sport will have an opportunity to take a full look at what impact expanded brackets could have and whether or not they should aim for that for their respective championships.”
government reform
The most significant change to the governance structure is the formation of sports management committees that will have the power to direct their respective sports without approval from the multiple layers of bureaucracy that are synonymous with the current NCAA model.
“So many other sports don’t have oversight groups and now they have an opportunity to be more involved in shaping the future of their sport at the collegiate level – which I think is great,” Cromer told The Sportlich in December. “Whether it’s two, three, four or five years, you’ll start to see different rules for different sports that make more sense specifically for them. They can work faster and respond better to their sport. This is a big step forward, especially compared to other work we have done to support the Olympic movement.”
Athlete Experience and Athlete Commitment
The committee’s report emphasizes the importance of standardizing the experience for Division I athletes across school, sport and gender. Setting expectations (ie, minimum requirements) for Division I members is intended to ensure that athletes receive the support they need in areas ranging from academic services to medical care to mental health resources.
The “Holistic Student and Athlete Performance Model” includes eight areas schools urgently need to commit to, including providing required medical care for injuries for at least two years after graduation, support for out-of-pocket medical expenses, and enabling athletes to do so in full Scope scholarships to complete their studies within 10 years after graduation. Other requirements would include expanding services in areas such as NIL, financial literacy and careers preparation. There are also recommendations related to championships that increase travel spending.
The committee also called for greater direct participation by athletes in all levels of their sport’s governance structures.
Topics for future considerations
Cromer and co-chair Greg Sankey have spent the last year — and especially the past few months — trying to live up to expectations of the committee so administrators and fans will not be disappointed in their work on collegiate sports reform. They didn’t want to be called “transformative”. Some of their earlier reform efforts on transfer windows and the NCAA violations process have been underwhelmed after calls for sweeping changes came from both inside and outside the college structure.
For the major issues that the Transformation Committee discussed but could not address at this time, the Committee hopes that the Board will either address them itself or mandate other entities to consider them in the future. These issues include the use of agents, athlete participation in professional drafts, and whether to tie the NCAA’s revenue distribution formula to the leagues’ performance in sports beyond men’s basketball. A new NCAA subcommittee on congressional engagement will take on some of the responsibility for advancing those issues where the NCAA cannot self-impose changes.
“We need a uniform national framework for name pictures and similarity activities,” said Sankey. “The reality is that the NCAA currently lacks the legal authority to address some of these elements. That’s one of the reasons the NCAA’s transformation doesn’t stop with this report. It’s entering a new phase.”
Perhaps the most momentous of the outstanding work would be changes to roster limits and/or bursary caps, issues that could be reconsidered under the new sports administration committees. Other issues related to broader decentralization and deregulation are also adopted.
“This is a milestone, not a finish line,” Cromer said. “The work to transform the NCAA must continue, and it will be an ongoing effort.”
required reading
(Photo: Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
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