The Return of the DIV debate...

[jknezek]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/ncaa-streamlines-constitution-set-to-give-power-to-schools/2021/11/08/d2cdf676-40a5-11ec-9404-50a28a88b9cd_story.html   modified to include a working link

Not sure how well that link will work. Regardless, at the end of a story about the new NCAA Constitution, which is going to emphasize giving autonomy to schools, especially those in DI, is the following quote from Shane Lyons, WVa athletic director:

“There's a huge gap in Division I with schools roughly with $175 million budgets and schools with $4 million budgets,” Lyons said. “A lot of times we've tried to legislate from an equality standpoint. Is there possibly a new division? Is there a Division Four? Do some schools break away and make a Division Four, and what is the membership requirements?”

Now I don't think he's talking about the same DIV type of debate that happened quite a while ago and was soundly defeated, but the fact remains that if the small percentage of the money from the NCAA basketball tournament is no longer pushed down to DII and DIII to help pay for National Tournaments, how many DIII schools are going to be interested, or capable, of paying their own way?

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I'm not sure how this is functionally different than what we have now - other than they're just not going to enforce as much as they used to.  D1 will still dominate the Board of Governors and the allocation money is the same.

Will this really keep the Power 5 conferences on board?  It feels like a bunch of nothing.

[jknezek]

I'm not sure how this is functionally different than what we have now - other than they're just not going to enforce as much as they used to.  D1 will still dominate the Board of Governors and the allocation money is the same.

Will this really keep the Power 5 conferences on board?  It feels like a bunch of nothing.

I think the whole point is the P5 are going to grab as much money as they can. I suspect at some point eyes will turn towards the amount they send down the food chain and either they will set up their own post season tournament, as Bob Huggins suggested a few weeks ago, https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/32439931/bob-huggins-says-major-conferences-create-own-college-basketball-postseason-event-ditch-ncaa-tournament , or they will simply find a way to be in charge of that money and cut it off.

Do I think it happens this year? No. The NCAA basketball contract runs through 2032, though I'm sure there could be some kind of a buyout. But do I think it happens eventually? I think there is no doubt that at some point the P5 will grab for that and every other dollar they can.

At that point, how do we fund DIII tournaments? It's going to be a big issue.

[Ron Boerger]

Agreed, it's obvious that the days of 32-team football and 64-team soccer tournaments (etc.) with the NCAA picking up the tab fr travel and all the rest should be enjoyed while they last.   

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I'm not sure how this is functionally different than what we have now - other than they're just not going to enforce as much as they used to.  D1 will still dominate the Board of Governors and the allocation money is the same.

Will this really keep the Power 5 conferences on board?  It feels like a bunch of nothing.

I think the whole point is the P5 are going to grab as much money as they can. I suspect at some point eyes will turn towards the amount they send down the food chain and either they will set up their own post season tournament, as Bob Huggins suggested a few weeks ago, https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/32439931/bob-huggins-says-major-conferences-create-own-college-basketball-postseason-event-ditch-ncaa-tournament , or they will simply find a way to be in charge of that money and cut it off.

Do I think it happens this year? No. The NCAA basketball contract runs through 2032, though I'm sure there could be some kind of a buyout. But do I think it happens eventually? I think there is no doubt that at some point the P5 will grab for that and every other dollar they can.

At that point, how do we fund DIII tournaments? It's going to be a big issue.

I heard from a former D1 AD more than a decade ago it was eventually going to be a 64 team power league - they've been dreaming of this for a long time, and we're pretty close at this point.  The real question is whether they're willing to let the NCAA continue to run things for the smaller sports.  There's no reason not to just run four leagues with two 8-team divisions each and play off against each other.

They leave the NCAA to run a second tier basketball tourney and manage the championships for the other sports.  I don't think D2 is long for this world - it'll get scooped up into whatever the second tier thing is.  We just have to hope that $32m for D3 continues to be a rounding error.

The real money they want to eliminate is all the money that goes to the non-power D1 conferences.  Those are the people freaking out right now.