SAN ANTONIO — The NCAA Division I Board of Directors on Thursday approved a set of recommendations aimed at reforming the elite class of collegiate sport, from membership standards to the size of championship classes.
The DI Conversion Committee has its Final report published last week and board approval came at the NCAA conference in San Antonio.
“Remember, these are just concepts at this point,” said Georgia President Jere Morehead, the chairman of the board. “So there is still a lot of work to be done on the details, but tremendous progress has been made today. The Board has been very adamant in its support of student-athletes and most of the recommendations from the Transformation Committee have focused on how to improve the student-athlete experience.”
The report called for more sport-by-sport governance in Division I, greater athlete involvement in governance and higher expectations for member schools with the goal of creating a more consistent athlete experience.
Transformation Committee Co-Chairs Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey and Ohio University Athletic Director Julie Cromer reiterated in a joint statement that work to transform Division I continues beyond the committee’s work.
“We are confident that these important changes will serve the needs of student-athletes because they are rooted in the student-athlete perspective,” they said. “In fact, we are confident that the voices of student athletes have never been so strongly represented in shaping university sports.”
The committee also recommended allowing 25% of athletic teams sponsored by at least 200 schools to compete in annual championship events. This opens the door to a possible expansion of the popular March Madness basketball tournaments from 68 to up to 90 teams each.
Later on Thursday, the annual State of the NCAA Address was scheduled to be delivered by the association’s current and future leaders. The new president Charlie Baker, former governor of Massachusetts, and outgoing President Mark Emmert expected to share the stage with Linda Livingstone, Chair of the Board of Governors, President of Baylor.
___
Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP and listen at http://www.appodcasts.com
___
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, transcribed or redistributed without permission.
