A day that the haves hoped would come, and the have-nots have dreaded, is finally here.
As expected, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors voted overwhelmingly to approve autonomy for the Power Five conferences -- ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, SEC, as well as Notre Dame -- in the division. Beginning Oct. 1, the NCAA stated in its release, those five conferences can begin passing legislation that only affects themselves and doesn’t involve the Non-Power Five leagues.
The reason for the nearly two-month gap between board approval and implementation is simple: "[t]he proposed governance redesign legislation is subject to a 60-day override period as specified in the current legislative process. For the board to reconsider the change, at least 75 schools must request an override. Generally, reconsideration occurs at the next scheduled board meeting, set for Oct. 30.”
It’s widely expected that any who oppose autonomy will be able to get anywhere close to the 75 schools necessary for an override.
“I am immensely proud of the work done by the membership. The new governance model represents a compromise on all sides that will better serve our members and, most importantly, our student-athletes,” NCAA president Mark Emmert said. “These changes will help all our schools better support the young people who come to college to play sports while earning a degree.”
So, what does autonomy mean? For Power Five football players, additional money, benefits and (some) voting power, including but not limited to:
-- two student-athletes will have seats on the new legislative council, which will be responsible for day-to-day operations of the division. Additionally, as the release states, "[t]he legislative process for these 65 schools, which could begin as early as Oct. 1, includes three student-athlete representatives from each conference who will vote on rule changes within those conferences.”
-- extended medical benefits and coverage, including post-career.
-- “unlimited scholarships,” meaning a player could return to the university at any time and finish up his degree, free of charge.
-- benefits for a player’s family, including money for road trips to see their son/grandson/brother/nephew play in important games or postseason games.
These potential changes, mind you, aren’t exclusive to Power Five programs; any and all FBS programs could adopt them at any given time after October 1. The financial cost to the non-Power Five, though, would make it prohibitive to all but a handful of the mid-majors, although the AAC is looking at implementing some combination of those initiatives in order to keep the haves in their sights.
Here’s one more thing: even with all of these changes, the scholarship limits -- 85 at any one time -- will not change. As had been the case in the past, the top programs won’t be able to stash players on their rosters to keep them out of another program’s hands. The same players that were available to the non-Power Five on the recruiting trail before will be made available to them moving forward.
One thing that might change? Power Five transfers who before would look toward a mid-major for additional playing time might think twice about giving up the benefits -- both now and in the future -- and moving on to another school.
The ramifications of all of this are, at the moment, unknown and won’t be known for some length of time. What is certain is that the game of college football will likely never be the same again. Whether that’s good or bad remains to be seen.