The Division I Board of Directors on Thursday charged the Division I Council with developing recommendations for a framework that would address the key elements included in NCAA President Charlie Baker's "Project DI" framework. Any legislative proposals recommended by the council will be brought forward to the board for final consideration.
Three key elements of the framework will be considered independently, rather than as a package, including:
- Allowing schools to offer enhanced educational benefits at any level they deem appropriate.
- Allowing schools to enter into name, image and likeness agreements with student-athletes.
- Establishing a subdivision within Division I that would allow higher-resourced schools to provide additional financial support for college athletes — in compliance with Title IX requirements — and create rules that may differ from other programs in Division I.
"The DI Board appreciated President Baker's proactive approach to begin a membership-wide conversation about continuing to modernize the way we support student-athletes," said Jere Morehead, chair of the board and president at the University of Georgia. "The time is right for us to take up these policies in earnest, and the board looks forward to the conversations in the year ahead."
The board specifically noted that the council's ongoing work pertaining to school NIL involvement may impact and influence the second concept.
Women's basketball performance fund
The board received an update from the Division I Board of Directors Finance Committee, which during its October meeting agreed that at a minimum, revenue distributions should be adjusted to address gender equity principles. The committee reported its immediate focus is the implementation of a women's basketball performance fund.
The Finance Committee presented three initial concepts for further consideration, including increasing revenue distributions to create a fund for women's basketball; leveraging annual budget increases to build a women's basketball fund over time; and/or reallocating currently budgeted funds to create the women's fund.
The Finance Committee asked NCAA staff to seek feedback on those concepts — particularly from commissioners and members of the women's basketball community — prior to its April meeting.
Per diems at championships
The board also received a report from the Finance Committee that reviewed several Transformation Committee recommendations and their financial impact. After careful review, the committee approved the Transformation Committee's recommendation to increase per-diem payments to student-athletes participating in NCAA championships starting with the 2024-25 academic year. The cost is estimated to be $5 million.
"The decision by the Finance Committee to increase per diems at NCAA championships is another good step to benefit the experiences of college athletes," said Cody Shimp, chair of the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
Name, image and likeness
The board also ratified the council's vote Wednesday to implement NIL student-athlete protections, including a new registry for NIL service providers, recommended best practices for NIL agreements, a national NIL education program and mandatory disclosure requirements. Moving forward, the board will continue to work with the council to provide feedback on the consequences for nondisclosure of NIL agreements, in addition to future proposals to address issues involving recruiting and school involvement.
