The Knight Commission (a reform-minded independent group of current and former university presidents/chancellors, athletic directors, and other influential individuals with ties to higher education and college athletics) issued a statement today recommending that the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) should be split from the NCAA and form its own system of governance.
It is important to note that the Knight Commission is an advisory group and has no authority to enact changes. That being said, their recommendation, which comes after a year-long examination by the commission, would have the 130 schools that participate in FBS-level football form a new governance structure independent of the NCAA with regards to football activities. All other sports would remain under the NCAA's control, including college basketball and the March Madness tournament. FCS football programs would also remain under the NCAA's governance structure.
In a statement earlier today, the Knight Commission co-chair and former U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, said the following regarding the commission's recommendation:
"Now is the time for big solutions. That's what people are looking for: big solutions, not incremental changes. We’re at a moment of both crisis and opportunity in college sports. Now is not the time to think only of narrow institutional interests. Now is the time for college leaders to step up, and act on their desire to advance big solutions to benefit college athletes."
According to the commission's report, the new governing entity (referred to in the report as the “National College Football Association,” or the NCFA) would be funded by CFP revenues and would manage all issues related to the sport of FBS football, including athlete education, health, safety, revenue distribution, litigation, eligibility, and enforcement.
The report also states that the guiding principles for the reorganized NCAA and the new NCFA state that college athletes should remain students, making satisfactory progress toward a degree, and should not be paid by their institutions to play. However, the athletes could earn compensation for the use of their names, images, and likenesses (NIL) from sources other than their institutions.
NCAA Division I governance would be reorganized around men’s basketball, which already funds nearly all NCAA operations, and is the one sport that all Division I members offer. This structure will allow leaders to more fully focus on this sport and align incentives, policies, and administration in ways that will better serve the future of men’s basketball and would include equal voting representation for all D-I conferences, replacing the current system that awards weighted voting to FBS conferences.
