NEW YORK ― Looming changes to NCAA governance — particularly at the Division I level — were the hot topic at the IAF conference.
“Clearly we’re on the verge of something,” said Georgia Tech Athletic Director Mike Bobinski on day two of the IMG Intercollegiate Athletics Forum. Part of a panel that discussed College Sports Business Headlines of the Day, Bobinski was weighing in on the topic that had dominated day one of the conference — upcoming changes to the NCAA.
“You’ve got to deal with process first and get the structure right, but then I think philosophically we need to make sure that we’ve defined what the NCAA’s appropriate role is going to be,” said Bobinski, referring to expected revisions that will allow the top five conferences to have more freedom, especially in terms of expenditures for student-athletes, most notably covering full cost of attendance.
“Is it championships? Is it safety and well being? Is it administrative, an agreed-upon set of rules?” he added.
Big East commissioner Val Ackerman said clearly the landscape has changed and this review is a good idea.
“If you have a governing body, what is the function of that governing body? What businesses should it be in, what shouldn’t it be in? How does it apply to individual sports? The NCAA covers a lot of sports and each sport has its own issues and should have its own processes for streamlined decision making,” Ackerman said.
