PHOENIX — One month after proposing that the richest schools in college sports be able to pay their athletes directly, NCAA president Charlie Baker said he and other administrators are happy to be “finally talking about the elephant in the room.”
Baker, speaking this week at the annual NCAA convention, told NCAA members that he has received a great deal of feedback to his proposal, which he has dubbed “Project D-I,” and that while some administrators and coaches may “quibble” with some of the details, he believes it’s serving its purpose as a conversation-starter.
On Thursday, the NCAA Board of Directors assigned the Division I Council to explore Baker’s proposal.
The most notable part of Baker’s letter, which was not a formal proposal, would create a new FBS subdivision where schools that can afford to pay athletes annually through a trust are able to opt in and govern themselves separately in certain areas. The initial proposal included a minimum investment of $30,000 per year to at least half of a school’s athletes, with equal monetary opportunities for male and female athletes. Another part would move NIL activity in-house under the schools’ control. Baker acknowledged that the proposal is designed in part to convince Congress to help the NCAA, as…
