NCAA Approves Expansion Of March Madness, Second Women’s Tournament
Sunday, January 15, 2023 at 04:49PM By Barry Janoff
January 13, 2023: As Charlie Baker prepares to begin his tenure as president for the NCAA, the organization has made several decisions that will shape the future of the NCAA and college athletics.
"Over the course of the last decade, the legal, political and cultural environment surrounding college sports has evolved faster than the rules, processes and structures we use to govern it," Greg Sankey and Julie Cromer, who co-chaired the Div. I Transformation Committee, said via the NCAA.
"The Transformation Committee spent the last year looking at Div. I from all angles and carefully crafting these meaningful recommendations we feel will modernize Division I."
The Transformation Committee was appointed by the board to lead the division's modernization efforts after the adoption of a new NCAA constitution during the 2022 NCAA Convention.
The Div. I Board of Directors has approved expanding access to NCAA championships to include “25% of active Div. I members in good standing in team sports sponsored by more than 200 schools,” which would have a direct impact on the size of men’s and women’s basketball tournaments and other sports overseen by the NCAA.
The board also approved Increasing championship budgets and elevating the travel experience for student-athletes, with a focus on “revenue generation opportunities through championships and considering how revenues are distributed to Div. I members in line with championships performance.”
The board said it “directed sport committees to consider whether bracket expansion is appropriate in their respective sports — in concert with broadcast partners and stakeholders within those sports — and whether changes should be made to bracket composition for championships.”
The board’s Finance Committee approved the creation of a second, 32-team post-season tournament in Div. I women's basketball, similar to the NCAA-owned and operated men's National Invitation Tournament.
The committee said the decision “was a recommendation from an independent gender equity review and is intended to provide an equal number of NCAA-funded post-season opportunities in men's and women's basketball.
The NCAA said the Div. I Council voted in October to advance the proposal to create the tournament. At a meeting earlier this month, the Div. I Board of Directors Finance Committee supported the allocation of funding.
The tournament, to be named at a future date, “will be implemented at earliest at the conclusion of the 2023-24 women's basketball season.”
The NCAA Board of Governors approved a supplemental revenue distribution to NCAA members. In Div. I, the total distribution will be $31.5 million, which will be disbursed to members in February.
The board also endorsed the Transformation Committee's proposed "holistic model" for the Div. I student-athlete experience.
Under that model, “student-athletes would be guaranteed increased access to medical coverage for athletically related injuries for a minimum of two years after graduation or completion of their athletics experience; mental health support in line with Inter-Association Mental Health Best Practices; expanded programming focused in areas such as mental health, career preparation, strength and conditioning, and diversity, equity and inclusion; and increased academic counseling and tutoring services.”
"We're confident these important changes will meet the needs of student-athletes because they were rooted in the perspective of student-athletes. In fact, we're confident that student-athletes' voices have never featured more prominently in shaping how college sports is run," according to Sankey, commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, and Cromer, athletics director at Ohio.
“The process of transforming the NCAA cannot be limited to a committee or a 12-month timeline. Transformation must be a commitment accepted and embraced by all in Div. I, particularly for those in key leadership positions.
“We must overcome reluctance to change the status quo through a continuing commitment to both the discomfort and opportunity created by an ongoing transformation effort.”
Baker was named in December to succeed Dr. Mark Emmert, who has been NCAA president since 2010 and decided in April to resign, but will continue to serve the NCAA as a consultant through June 2023.
Baker had been the governor (R) of Massachusetts, a position that ended Jan. 5, 2023. He served eight years in office.
"The NCAA is confronting complex and significant challenges, but I am excited to get to work as the awesome opportunity college athletics provides to so many students is more than worth the challenge,” Baker said at the time via the NCAA.
Passing The Baton: Mass. Gov. Baker Named New NCAA President
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