NCAA President Charlie Baker wants to create a new tier of Division I where schools with the most athletic resources can offer unlimited educational benefits, enter into name, image and likeness partnerships with athletes and directly pay them through a trust fund.
Quick Read
- New Division I Tier Proposal: Charlie Baker, the NCAA President, proposes creating a new tier within Division I for schools with more athletic resources. This tier would allow such schools to offer unlimited educational benefits, engage in name, image, and likeness (NIL) partnerships with athletes, and pay them directly through a trust fund.
- Addressing Resource Disparities: In his letter to over 350 Division I schools, Baker highlights the disparity in resources between the wealthier Football Bowl Subdivision schools and other Division I members, as well as Division II and III schools, which is leading to new competitive and financial challenges.
- Challenges from NIL and Transfer Portal: The introduction of NIL opportunities for student-athletes and the advent of the Transfer Portal are complicating factors that the NCAA is trying to navigate.
- Modernizing Collegiate Sports Model: Baker notes the difficulties in modernizing the collegiate sports model due to the operational differences between revenue-generating sports programs and the majority of college sports.
- Legal and Regulatory Environment: The NCAA is navigating a challenging legal and regulatory environment, with ongoing debates in courts and other public entities about reform measures that could impact college athletics.
- Plea for Congressional Assistance: The NCAA leadership, including Baker, has been seeking help from Congress to establish a federal law regulating how athletes can be compensated for NIL deals.
- Legal Threats and Revenue Sharing: The NCAA is facing legal threats that could potentially require member schools to share the revenue generated from major college football and basketball, and also address the issue of granting athletes employee status.
The Associated Press has the story:
NCAA President Charlie Baker calls for new tier of Division I where schools can pay athletes
Newslooks- LAS VEGAS (AP)
NCAA President Charlie Baker wants to create a new tier of Division I where schools with the most athletic resources can offer unlimited educational benefits, enter into name, image and likeness partnerships with athletes and directly pay them through a trust fund.
In a letter sent Tuesday to more than 350 Division I schools, Baker told members that the disparity in resources between the wealthiest schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision and other DI members — along with the hundreds of Division II and III schools — is creating “a new series of challenges.”
“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,” Baker wrote.
Baker said the difference in the way schools that participate in revenue-generating college sports operate and the vast majority of college sports is complicating attempts to modernize the collegiate sports model.
“The contextual environment is equally challenging, as the courts and other public entities continue to debate reform measures that in many cases would seriously damage parts or all of college athletics,” he wrote.
Baker and college sports leaders have been pleading with Congress to help the NCAA with a federal law to regulate the way athletes can be paid for NIL deals.
The NCAA is also facing a new round of legal threats that could force members to share some of the billions in revenue generated by major college football and basketball, along with giving athletes employees status.
