NCAA's 'Project Division I' to be discussed at convention next week
While most college football fans will be focused on the national championship matchup between Michigan and Washington next week in Houston, Texas, they need to be aware of something else happening in the second week of the new year.
The NCAA is holding a convention next week in Phoenix, Arizona, where decision-makers will meet to discuss what could be the most revolutionary change that college football has ever seen.
According to Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger, college administrators will gather to potentially lay the groundwork for further exploration of President Charlie Baker’s proposal to revolutionize the Division I model, with one of the proposal's concepts involving a select number of Division I programs into their own subdivision.
The creation of new subdivisions would allow select schools — Oklahoma being among them — to control their own governance concerning issues like name, image, and likeness (NIL), the transfer portal and other hot-button topics around the sport.
In order to become a part of this proposed subdivision, programs would be required to deposit into a trust $30,000 per athlete for 1/2 of the school's total athletes. While radical, the idea could help alleviate some of the issues that have arisen alongside NIL and the transfer portal.
"At its meeting next Thursday, the Division I Board of Directors is scheduled to review the proposal and determine whether to charge the Division I Council, or another body, with developing recommendations related to the framework of the proposal — a decision that will initiate a potentially year-long activation process and chart a course for one of the most radical changes in NCAA history," Dellenger writes.
Baker's proposal, which was announced last month under the name, "Project Division I," would allow schools to directly deal with student-athletes on their NIL and provide them with unlimited education-related resources, with the new "subdivision" idea being the third concept that will be tabled for discussion.
In convention documents obtained by Yahoo Sports, the NCAA lays out a potential timeline for the "activation process" of the project, with the current three-part proposal being split into two parts.
"The initial focus would be on the first two concepts that permit schools to (1) strike NIL deals with athletes and (2) offer enhanced educational benefits to their athletes," Dellenger says. "The process around adopting (3) the new subdivision would follow the adoption of the other two concepts.
"According to the timeline, the DI Council, if given authority to further explore the proposal, will produce final recommendations to the board by its June 25-26 meeting. By August, the board will take action on those recommendations. The timeline targets next January’s NCAA convention for action on the new subdivision structure."
Dellenger goes on to clarify that the timeline is merely a suggestion and could very well be adjusted, per the convention documents.
In conjunction with Project D-I, the NCAA will also take a focused deep dive into NIL and the transfer portal, the two biggest topics in college athletics.
For the purposes of NIL, the NCAA is expected to review and adopt Division I Proposal - 2023-58, which would introduce new concepts like:
• Establishing a process for voluntary registration for NIL service providers such as agents or advisors.
• Establishing a template for NIL contracts
• Introducing a comprehensive education plan to ensure athletes, agents, collectives, and advisors are all on the same page.
• Mandatory disclosure of NIL deals of $600 or more within 30 days of signing an agreement.
As for the transfer portal, the Division I Council will discuss several potential changes to their transfer policies, including the abolishment of their year-in-residency penalty that requires second-time transfer athletes to sit a year in order to be eligible. With an ongoing legal battle between athletes and the NCAA regarding this exact topic, there are sure to be plenty of changes and adjustments made in order to better accommodate athletes.
In all, there are some major topics to be discussed next week, and the outcomes of those discussions will certainly help shape the future of college athletics. So, while you should enjoy the big game on Monday, make sure to stay tuned in for what happens later in the week, as it could end up impacting college football in a much wider scope.
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