SEC commissioner Mike Slive is pushing for his conference to pursue separation from the NCAA if that organizaton does not grant the biggest football conferences goverance autonomy. “The conference is not deaf to the din of discontent in college athletics,” Slive said Monday at the SEC’s annual football media day.
If autonomy within the current NCAA structure is not achieved, Slive said the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big Eight and Pac 12 would continue to take steps to form a separate Division 4. “If we do not achieve a a positive outcome under the exiiting big tent of Division I, we will need to consider the establishment of a venue with smiilar conferences where we can enact the desired changes in the best interest of our student athletes,” Silve said.
“It’s important that the NCAA governance steering committee continue its support for autonomous decision making among the five conferences including proper voting thresholds to allow for the enactment of meanful change.”
This is not the first time Slive talked divorce. He voiced strong support for Division 4 if the NCAA limited what the biggest schools could do for its student-athletes earlier this spring at the SEC’s annual meetings in Destin, Fla. Slive said the Power 5 specifically want scholarships tied to the cost of attendance rather than historical tuitioin, room and board, fees and books. Silve also said he supported the expandson of improved, consistent medical insurance for its student-athletes.
. A steering committee on governance will issue its final recommendarions regarding restricting and autonomy to the NCAA Board Aug 7.
We could be stunned if this doesn’t come down. The biggest conferences have been competing on a different playing field than most of the other mid-major football conferences and non-BCS schools for years.
For what it’s worth, the idea of the Power 5 starting their own version of March Madness that would be restricted the members of the power conferences and would be worth billions in TV rights would be the ultimate game changier and would also turn the current 68-team NCAA tournament into a glorified event for non-BCS football schools Catholic colleges and mid-major programs..
