New NCAA constitution approved, setting the table for change

NCAA member schools voted on Thursday to approve a new constitution, the first step in a reform process that could fundamentally change the way college sports works.

The new constitution was approved by vote of 801 to 195 at the association’s annual convention, which took place in Indianapolis less than a mile away from NCAA headquarters. The new constitution is a simpler, pared-down version of the old constitution, the bedrock principles on which college athletics are organized. Now, each division will set its own rules and figure out the best way to govern itself.

At the Division I level, such a task falls to the so-labeled transformation committee, which is co-chaired by SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and Ohio athletic director Julie Cromer. Their group is merely at its “starting point,” Sankey told reporters on Thursday evening, and it will begin its work in earnest next week. That work is potentially massive, as the 21-person committee will evaluate everything from enforcement and regulatory work to athlete compensation and the Division I governance model itself.

“Do you take a 400-page rulebook and apply the surgical skill of a scalpel, or do you take the 400-page rulebook and toss it into a bonfire?” Cromer said. “We probably have people both sides of those approaches on the committee which makes it a good committee.”

The transformation committee met with the Division I Board of Directors for two hours on Thursday morning to discuss what its purview will be and what its specific charge includes. Sankey said the board used the word “transformation” for this committee intentionally, because “it’s a high bar.”

The timing of such reform is no accident. Though there are administrators across college sports who have long pushed for modernization, there’s no way to ignore the outside pressure that led the NCAA to this point. It’s come from the U.S. Supreme Court, both branches of Congress and the National Labor Relations Board.

In June, the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 against the NCAA in an antitrust case related to caps on compensation for academic-related benefits for athletes. The ruling, which was accompanied by a scathing concurring opinion from Justice Brett Kavanaugh, opened the door to more legal challenges to the NCAA model.

On July 1, facing mounting pressure from various state laws and federal legislators, the NCAA changed its longstanding rules to allow athletes to receive compensation for their names, images and likenesses (NIL) in the form of endorsements, sponsorships and the like. But in the wake of the SCOTUS ruling, the NCAA needed to mitigate potential legal exposure and ended up eschewing a strict set of regulations and deferring to individual institutions and individual states, which led to a patchwork set of rules. Meanwhile, members of Congress have proposed various bills over the past two years that address topics ranging from NIL reform to post-graduate healthcare. Prominent senators have criticized escalating college football coaching salaries and lavish spending on facilities. Some have even broached the subjects of collective bargaining and employee protections for athletes.

It’s clear that the old model of amateurism cannot continue without a serious overhaul. NCAA president Mark Emmert said Thursday “is one of those big-change moments” in the history of the association. But, in reality, that reform may take months. Sankey and Cromer have been given an August deadline to report back to the board with progress and recommendations regarding the future of college sports.

“Problems yield to effort, and we have a set of problems,” Sankey said. “We’ll have to apply a lot of effort.”

(Photo by C. Morgan Engel/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)