Settle down, Mike Slive, it appears your bluff to move the SEC to a Division IV model won't be called after all.
The Power Five conferences have been clamoring for more autonomy, which would allow them to expand the compensation of their student-athletes, for quite some time. It now appears to be all but an inevitability.
Jim Delany was at the forefront of pushing a plan on how voting would work under a new model, and it appears the NCAA has taken heed. Here's an infographic from their official site:
(Click to expand.)
For those worried about this being the harbinger of the end to college football as we know it, Gene Smith believes this will, ultimately, be good for the game.
From Columbus' largest daily newspaper:
“I think the outcome is going to be highly positive. I think in the end, we’ll be able to do what we want to do for our student-athletes in our types of institutions.
“We have strong support from our presidents. Mike Slive and Jim Delany don’t make their comments without the support of the individual institutions, which means the presidents have signed off on it. So each conference in the top five has gone through a process to get agreement from the presidents that if these things aren’t in place, at the vote, then we have to look at a different structure.”
That structure won't be needed. Autonomy is coming to college sports.
