Big changes are coming to college sports, and Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger has the scoop. According to his latest report, power conference administrators are making moves to shift control of athlete compensation enforcement away from the NCAA.
This could mark a major turning point in how college athletics are governed.
What’s Happening?
A group of officials from the major conferences—the SEC, Big Ten, ACC, and Big 12—met in Washington, D.C., this week to hammer out details of a new organization that will oversee compensation rules for athletes. This organization, which is yet to be named, will take over enforcement duties related to revenue-sharing and NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) deals, essentially replacing the NCAA’s role in this area.
The new enforcement body will include a cap management system, an NIL clearinghouse, and an investigative unit. It will be responsible for making sure schools don’t exceed salary caps or violate new compensation rules. Schools caught breaking these rules could face penalties such as fines, reductions in revenue-sharing pools, or even suspensions for coaches and administrators, according to the report from Dellenger.
A Shift in Power
This move is part of a larger trend of power conferences asserting more control over college sports. In recent years, courts have ruled against the NCAA’s amateurism model, leading to deregulation and greater autonomy for the conferences. Now, instead of the NCAA making the calls, schools in these top leagues will be responsible for enforcing their own compensation rules.
It seems like only a matter of time before the conferences break away from the NCAA altogether, though this hasn't happened as of yet.
The plan includes a revenue-sharing model where schools can distribute millions to their athletes under a structured cap. The first year’s cap is projected to be around $20.5 million per school. While some believe this is a step toward better financial fairness for athletes, others worry about unintended consequences, and how things will be monitored moving forward.