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In a nearly unanimous vote, the power conferences of college athletics have gotten even more powerful.
The NCAA Board of Directors has granted autonomy to the 65 member schools of the Big Ten, ACC, Big 12, SEC, and PAC 12. What does this mean? The coalition can now propose and enact their own legislation. Issues such as stipends, insurance benefits for players, and recruiting rules will finally be brought to the table.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p>Big NCAA news MT <a href="https://twitter.com/NCAA">@NCAA</a>: Schools in ACC, Big 12, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/B1G?src=hash">#B1G</a>, Pac-12 & SEC will have flexibility to make decisions within DI. <a href="http://t.co/Z2l3oEEG6j">pic.twitter.com/Z2l3oEEG6j</a></p>— Illinois Athletics (@IlliniAthletics) <a href="https://twitter.com/IlliniAthletics/statuses/497452512941989888">August 7, 2014</a></blockquote>
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There is still a small chance that this decision gets blocked. If 75 schools from outside the conferences vote to override this move, it will be sent back to the BoD for further consideration. However, "threats" involving entirely separating from the NCAA by the power conference commissioners make this highly unlikely. Despite this, there are certain things that the Power-5 can't touch. Amongst them are transfer policies, postseason tournaments, and scholarship limits.
Expect new legislation to be proposed by October 1st and enacted at the NCAA Convention in January, 2015.
The world of college athletics is entering a new day and age--let's hope this ends up being a good thing.
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