Change is coming, maybe this fall

[calfan]

Here is a part of a press conference with Mark Emmert from the NCAA:

"The Division I board of directors is expected to vote in August on major governance changes that could include awarding cost of attendance to athletes and would also allow the so-called power conferences to operate under a model slightly different than everyone else."

The full article is here:

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/10738559/mark-emmert-ncaa-president-says-unionization-attempt-grossly-inappropriate

[CBB_Fan]

I would find this absolutely sickening if it is done on a conference level. No one else in the MVC would think twice before shrinking back to new DII of the sport, but we would probably pay the cost. But I'm not someone that champions the ideal of amateurism. The idea started as a way to keep factory workers out of the sporting competitions of the rich, and the entire purpose is to prevent poor and middle class athletes from competing. Scholarships help the situation, but the vast majority of D1 athletes don't have full-ride scholarships. And even with a full ride, athletes often fail to afford basic necessities because they cannot work a job.

[BostonWu]

Ironic that a president of a school that is a textbook example of riding the coat tails of power conferences is speaking in behalf of the steering committee.

[Ta town]

Eh.......whatever

It could be good for WSU. If I recall correctly when the ncaa was talking stipends I believe the valley was going to leave it up to the individual schools. However I don't know what they are suggesting this time around.

[WuShock16]

This could also be the impetus for us to get the heck out of the Valley, should the Valley collectively choose to be a have-not.

[Shock Top]

If you really wanted to, you could make the same argument can be made about universities. They make millions on millions off the common students, yet what to the common students get out of it?

If all that comes out of this is better health coverage and possibly a stipend (maybe what they could make working on campus), then so be it. The whole profit sharing discussion is BS, especially since the NCAA is a non-profit organization.

[tw805]

I think this is far beyond a minor shift in compliance, this is the first move toward the start of a new NCAA division. The big boys don't like their party getting crashed ny the so-called "lesser" schools, so they have started acting like a cartel.

[Shock Therapy]

What concerns me is the talk about autonomy for the 5 "power" conferences. They're essentially talking about another division where almost anything goes. There goes our ability to keep a good coach or get decent recruits. If they allowed realignment to allow the schools that want to participate in this new division, then fine. But something tells me that this will be used as a weapon againsy those that aren't already in those five conferences.

[Shock Therapy]

On the other hand, they could get the necessary votes to move forward IF they opened up membership in the 5 power conferences.

[pogo]

If there is indeed a new division or an "elite" division if you will that has the five power conferences what would keep them from increasing the numbers of scholarships that they could give out? Instead of what they have now why not double the number and have junior varsity squads like they used to have. Then they could conduct their own weeding out process and discard those not worthy of playing at the elite level. Football could do the same like the old days when you would give a guy a scholarship just so he wouldn't go to some other school and play against you. This is indeed a slippery slope and it does not bode well for the "tweeners".

[AZ Shocker]

Isn't Northwestern University in Chicago??? Isn't that dumbass Obama from Chicago???

Oh....I see what's going on here.

[Shockeriffic]

If you really wanted to, you could make the same argument can be made about universities. They make millions on millions off the common students, yet what to the common students get out of it?

If all that comes out of this is better health coverage and possibly a stipend (maybe what they could make working on campus), then so be it. The whole profit sharing discussion is BS, especially since the NCAA is a non-profit organization.

I don't know how much non-profit means in this case. For example, the NFL is also a non-profit organization.

[Capitol Shock II]

Well if it was a good change they would have thrown it out there already. The fact that they are obscuring it from public consumption is a dead give away in my opinion.

Additionally, they are starting with five conferences. Which one's do you think those are? And if trying to pass this gets difficult they just add conferences until the dissenting voice tolerable.

I smell another NCAA screw job coming and they can't handle having the small schools competing on the same level.

At the end of the day isn't this discrimination?

[Capitol Shock II]

The NCAA is a cartel.

[Heinro]

Personally I think it would be a massive blunder to just allow the 5 power conferences to pay their players. It would kill the parity and no one outside of the 5 power conferences would no longer care to watch at all.