The NCAA postseason championships, including the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments, would be expanded in accordance with recommendations made by the NCAA Transformation Committee.
After nearly a year of meetings, the transformation committee, tasked with overhauling archaic NCAA policies, produced a 40-page final report that was released Tuesday to selected members of the media. The report will go to the Division I board of directors for consideration at the 2023 NCAA convention in San Antonio next week.
Among the many recommendations is incorporating more teams into the NCAA postseason championships. The NCAA should consider expanding championship brackets to accommodate access to the sport’s 25% participating teams, notes the committee’s report.
Could we see an expanded March Madness as early as 2025?
Aaron Doster/USA TODAY Sports
The NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament comprises 68 teams, or about 19% of the sport’s 350 active members. Tournaments would have to expand by around 20 teams – incorporating around 90 teams in total – to reach the 25% mark.
The transformation committee’s recommendation is not an official change. Most recommendations will be determined by the individual oversight and governance groups for a given sport. On the topic of expanding championship events, an initial review by the committees will take place by June 2023 and final recommendations will take place by January 24 for implementation in the 24–25 championship, the report says. Transformation leaders, including SEC co-chairs Greg Sankey, commissioner, and Julie Cromer, Ohio athletic director, will speak with reporters later Tuesday.
The committee’s report offers a wide range of recommendations, most of them calling for Division I schools to provide more benefits to athletes. For now, roster limits and purse limits are not changing. There is also no change in countable football coaches. The committee recommended a review of these categories. Here are some of the highlights of the recommendations, which are divided into three categories.
Benefits for athletes
- Require all Division I schools to provide medical coverage for athletic injuries for a minimum of two years after graduation or completion of participation. The recommendation says that a national coverage model may be needed to help some programs cover costs.
- Requiring schools to provide full-scholar athletes with the ability to return to school within 10 years of leaving to complete their degree.
- Require schools to certify that they provide career counseling and life skills programming to athletes, including, at a minimum, the following modules: mental health; strength and conditioning; nutrition; name, image and likeness (NIL); financial literacy; transfer requirements; career preparation; diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging; and preventing sexual violence on campus.
- Create a new DI governance structure that will include greater athlete participation at the campus, conference, and national levels.
Membership expectations
- Engaging athletes further to be part of governance at the conference and school level, which includes creating an executive Athlete Advisory Committee team for each league.
- Schools must staff a licensed mental health professional solely dedicated to serving athletes to meet expectations for adherence to mental health services.
- Schools must complete a comprehensive review of their health and safety support services at least once every four years and provide written confirmation of completion to the conference office.
- Schools must have medical personnel trained in acute concussion and other injuries present at all NCAA practices and competitions in the following contact/collision sports: tumbles and somersaults; alpine skiing; baseball; Basketball; Beach volleyball; diving; equestrian; field hockey; football; fitness; Hockey on ice; lacrosse; pole vaulting; rugby; football; softball; volleyball; water polo; wrestling.
- Schools must employ at least one full-time, properly trained staff member whose primary focus is diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.
- The committee recommends a review of the FBS attendance requirements to “make more effective distinctions between football subdivisions”.
- Sports sponsorship minimums will remain the same. DI members must sponsor at least 16 sports.
- The committee recommends a review of the grant limitations “as soon as the impact of changes in other areas of the transformation committee’s review becomes known.”
Governance
- Eliminating the NCAA Presidential Forum, which assists the NCAA DI board of directors to “fulfill its strategic mission within the Division I governance structure and helps ensure that the NCAA core value of involving presidential leadership of intercollegiate athletics on campus, conference, and national level is reached,” according to the NCAA website. The forum is made up of a president or chancellor from each of the 32 DI conferences.
- Change the composition of the DI Board of Directors, the details of which will be finalized by April, according to the report.
- The committee recommends that DI championship tournaments seed at least 50% of the bracket.
- Each sport that has an NCAA championship must have its own oversight committee for decision-making, like football and men’s and women’s basketball today.
- A thorough review of NCAA Championship travel policies “to identify ways to elevate the travel experience for participants,” including: (1) increasing day rates equal to DI Basketball Preliminary Rounds; (2) standardize the process and fee structure for upgrading to chartered air travel; (3) guarantee chartered air travel for teams traveling more than 2,000 miles and without direct flight options.
- The committee also recommends a review (1) of the revenue distribution model; (2) financial aid and list size; (3) countable coaches and the definition of countable coaches; (4) the role of sports agents; and (5) the seasons of play and practice.
.
Comments
Post a Comment