Recent objections to the NCAA’s proposed plans to allow multi-year athletic scholarships and stipends have further rendered the organization impotent.
Earlier this month, more than 100 schools signed a petition opposing the plan that would pay athletes a $2,000 stipend.
The plan has already been formally suspended and could potentially effect more than 1,000 players who have signed their letters of intent.
On Tuesday, it was reported that more than 75 schools are opposing a proposal put forth in October that would allow multi-year athletic scholarships instead of the current one-year renewable model.
While none of the schools opposing the stipend and scholarship plans were named, it’s a safe bet that none of them were from the major college athletic conferences.
It’s become clear that the time has come for the major schools to break away from the NCAA and form their own governing body.
The NCAA has no way of balancing athletic programs so that every school is on a level playing field.
By design, there already exists a disproportionate number of schools that can’t compete against the major football programs.
We’ve been on this path ever since the BCS was implemented in 1998. All of the recent realignments that have occurred were in direct relation to the major conference’s ability to strengthen their respective positions within college football.
As such, the Big East is literally hanging on by a thread and could very well lose their automatic qualifying status. And that might be a mute point if the BCS moves forward with a proposed plan to do away with AQ statuses altogether.
College athletics programs generate the majority of their revenue from football, and that money largely comes from each conference’s ability to negotiate television deals that pay millions annually.
The schools playing in conferences outside of the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC will never be able to generate an amount of revenue that comes close to the schools in those leagues.
As a result, the major schools will have larger operating budgets that affords them better opportunities to sign prospects that the stipend and scholarship plans target.
If the smaller schools oppose the NCAA’s legislation on those plans, it’s still not going to offset their ability to compete.
That reality won’t make much difference in the end, because the schools that have aligned themselves in the major conferences will continue to have a decided financial advantage.
Thus, perhaps the only way for the NCAA to maintain some control is to reclassify those schools currently in the AQ BCS conferences and govern them differently.
Otherwise, the major schools don’t have any incentive to remain within the NCAA framework. Attempting to apply the same rules for schools in the Mid-American Conference isn’t going to work for the schools in big time athletic conferences.
Fingers could be pointed in a lot places as the result of this current mess, but ultimately the blame rests squarely with the NCAA.
Their inability to foresee the inevitable and failure to proactively adopt measures that address the issues have led to this point.
It should be noted that those schools objecting to the stipend and scholarship plans are possibly setting themselves up for a lot of heartache.
If the major schools decide to break away from the NCAA, what do you think will become of the mid-level athletic programs around the nation?
They can’t complete as it is, but at least some of the schools from smaller conferences get chances to play in college football bowl games and the NCAA basketball tournament.
But how attractive will bowl games and the basketball tournament be if the major schools have their own championship formats?
Television networks won’t be lining up to negotiate deals for a matchup between Central Michigan and San Diego State in the Coconut bowl, especially not if viewers can watch USC take on LSU at the same time.
You can’t fault the major schools from doing what they’ve done over the past 14 years to position themselves for greater financial gains.
At the end of the day, these schools run athletic departments that provide huge amounts of revenue that can’t be generated another way.
And since these major schools are making millions every year, the calls for them to share some of the money with the athletes responsible for making it all happen will continue to grow louder.
That’s the primary reason why the NCAA attempted to implement stipend and scholarship plans. If those plans don’t come to fruition, it’s only a matter of time before the major schools act.
It’s a course of action that the major schools probably don’t want to take, but they’re being told in so many words that they don’t have much choice.
You don’t have to be a fly on the wall to see how all of this is going to play out.
The NCAA will have three choices; either acquiesce to the major schools and force the stipend and scholarship plans upon all the members, reclassify and govern the larger schools differently or risk becoming totally irrelevant, not that they aren’t already largely irrelevant.
But the major schools may remove the NCAA from the equation altogether. The programs within the major conferences don’t need the NCAA and it’s antiquated rules that are prohibiting them from implementing groundbreaking legislation.
There is one potential consequence if the major schools leave the NCAA. If the big time athletic programs form their own governing body, you can bet that the smaller schools will seek government intervention of some sort.
If you think the NCAA is bad, wait until the politicians get their hands on college athletics.
