Seismic changes could be on the horizon for college sports.
The NCAA Board of Directors voted Thursday to grant the five power conferences the ability to write many of their own rules separate from those put in place by the NCAA.
Under the new system, the so-called “Power Five” (the Big 10, Big 12, ACC, SEC and Pac-12) can vote to deviate from many of the NCAA’s long-standing regulations, including “cost-of attendance” stipends for student-athletes (up to $5,000), guaranteed scholarships, rules regarding player-agent interaction and more.
Representatives from these leagues have until Oct. 1 to submit a “wish list of issues” they would like to decide on autonomously.
“I am immensely proud of the work done by the membership,” NCAA president Mark Emmert said, via The Associated Press. “The new governance model represents a compromise on all sides that will better serve our members and, most importantly, our student-athletes. These changes will help all our schools better support the young people who come to college to play sports while earning a degree.”
Sixty-five schools make up the Power Five, which also now will have greater voting power on general NCAA issues.
The new legislation, which encompasses all sports, can be overriden if 75 non-power conference schools — a group that includes the remaining FBS conferences, all FCS conferences and all non-football-playing conferences — vote against it within 60 days.
