NCAA: Pac-12 Reforms Set Stage For Widespread Changes
When the NCAA Division I board of directors voted overwhelmingly in August to grant autonomy for the so-called Power 5 conferences to set their own regulations for governing sports in those leagues, it opened the door for major reform on several levels, covering everything from player stipends or insurance benefits, to staff sizes, recruiting rules or mandatory hours spent on individual sports.
On Monday, the Pac-12 crashed through that doorway by adopting the most progressive reform package yet, in an historic move that could have a significant trickle-down effect for the other four Power Five leagues (the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and SEC) and perhaps other conferences, in time.
The Pac-12’s changes targeted five main areas, each of which could be influential in determining where other top leagues might look to exercise their own newly granted autonomy.
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A not so common fact in college athletics is that scholarships had to be renewed on an annual basis. With autonomy, that goes away if that’s what conferences choose to do.
For the Pac-12, that now means guaranteed four-year scholarships, which will no longer be reduced or canceled as long as a student athlete in the conference remains in good standing and meets all terms of the agreement.
That change didn’t make the Pac-12 pioneers, as it came less than three weeks after the Big Ten became the first major conference to guarantee scholarships across all sports throughout an athlete’s stay at the same school.
Another area that the Pac-12 and Big Ten now share is in allowing student athletes to return to school to complete a degree under the remaining terms of an unfinished scholarship, if that student had to leave school earlier.
A third benefit to Pac-12 student athletes will cover against injuries. Beginning in 2015-16, Pac-12 schools will be required to pay for medical expenses related to injuries suffered during Pac-12 athletics for a period of four years after the former athlete leaves school, or until the he or she reaches age 26 (at which time the ex-athlete could be covered by the Affordable Care Act.
Fourth, Pac-12 transfers within the conference will be able to receive immediate financial aid from the school to which the athlete is transferring. The goal is to eliminate or lessen any economic hardships associated with an athlete transferring from one Pac-12 school to another.
Finally, the Pac-12 is allowing its student athletes to have a more impactful voice by giving them the chances to attend policy-making meetings.
All of the above could be the foundation of more sweeping changes in the coming months and years.
Expect the other four major leagues to follow suit and approve identical or similar changes. They’ll have to in order to compete with the additional benefits the Pac-12 can now offer its student athletes.
And if that happens, it figures that other leagues, like men’s basketball mid-major conferences, would try to find the money to offer the same benefits, since they’ll have to compete with the Power Five leagues in the same way the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and ACC will have to adopt reforms of their own to remain on par with what the Pac-12 will provide.
If not, those non-Power Five leagues will far too far back after they’ve made so much progress already (especially in men’s basketball) in closing the gap between themselves and Power Five on a national scale in recent years. If the smaller conferences can’t compete on that front because of limited resources, it could create a conference power imbalance that will be bad for college athletics.
Another thing to consider is that there is now also a second layer of enhanced autonomy, as it’s not only the NCAA letting its conferences choose the way they way to operate, but in the Pac-12’s case, it won’t be that league enforcing its new policies.
"“We’re relying on the schools to self-enforce this,” Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott told CBSSports.com."
That way of thinking could usher in a whole new way of operating freely for many athletic programs across the nation.
With the Pac-12 reforms now in place, particularly with one of those being greater athlete representation in decision making, items such as athlete stipends or even a greater pay-for-play system, and perhaps athlete unionization, all of which have already been on the table, could eventually become norms.
As noted here, such potentialities could improve or damage college athletics. But either way, more change is coming, probably on a pervasive basis, now that the Pac-12’s momentous moves have become the next the major domino to fall.