NCAA slashes distribution to member schools by $375 million
The organization had been scheduled to distribute $600 million to more than 300 Division I schools from April to June.
The organization had been scheduled to distribute $600 million to more than 300 Division I schools from April to June.
Early this century, the NCAA enlisted the accounting firm Deloitte to conduct a risk assessment, one that looked at the seemingly preposterous notion that the NCAA men’s basketball tournament—one of the most lucrative events in sports—would be canceled.
The decision comes one day after the Indianapolis-based NCAA said it would not allow fans to attend games in hopes of stopping the potential spread of the virus.
The Indianapolis-based NCAA is weighing potential health risks to athletes against hundreds of millions of dollars on which the institution and dozens of athletic conferences and universities rely on for economic stability.
Combined, the events were expected to draw in upwards of $35 million in revenue for local businesses, including hotels and restaurants.
The decision came less than two hours after the NCAA said it would play its March Madness games in empty stadiums and shortly after the first Big Ten game tipped off at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
NCAA President Mark Emmert announced the games will be open only to “essential staff and limited family attendance.”
The Indianapolis-based NCAA faced mounting pressure over how it will conduct its marquee event Tuesday, the same day the Ivy League canceled its conference basketball tournaments and two other Division I conferences announced that their tournaments would be played without spectators.
An advocacy group for college athletes has urged the Indianapolis-based NCAA to consider holding its winter sports championships with no fans, and the idea has not been dismissed out of hand.
The Indianapolis-based National Collegiate Athletic Association is examining all options for its upcoming men’s basketball tournament, including the possibility of holding games without fans, as the coronavirus continues to spread across the United States.
If adopted, new criteria would go into effect for the 2020-21 academic year and be a boon for Division I athletes in high-profile sports such as football and basketball.
The NCAA fears laws allowing student athletes to benefit from endorsement deals would give some schools an unfair recruiting advantage and open the door to sponsorship arrangements being used as a recruiting inducement.
As Congress considers whether to allow college athletes to receive endorsement money, the forces for the status quo have a power player in their corner that the students don’t: money.
Corrigan spent his entire career involved in college sports as a coach, administrator and conference commissioner. He was a leader in the creation of the bowl coalition, the precursor to the Bowl Championship Series in the pre-College Football Playoff era.
The Indianapolis-based NCAA will now permit elite athletes to be paid for training expenses by the U.S. Olympic Committee and other national governing bodies.
With nearly 30 states considering some form of legislation that tackles athlete compensation, NCAA President Mark Emmert said he is now open to federal lawmakers potentially crafting uniform guidelines that help reshape the college athletic model.
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, who co-chairs a bipartisan congressional working group on athlete compensation with Utah Republican Mitt Romney, also announced they would meet Tuesday with NCAA President Mark Emmert to discuss national policies for paying athletes.
The games had been scheduled for Cincinnati, but the NCAA said the city needs time to complete renovations of its arena.
NCAA President Mark Emmert said he is spending most of his time trying to figure out how the NCAA and its hundreds of member schools will allow college athletes to get compensation under the auspices of amateur athletics.
Michigan is the latest state to consider letting college athletes be paid following the introduction of bipartisan legislation Wednesday that would allow them to cash in on the use of their name, image and likeness.