Guest Post: Smaller Division 1 Schools don’t have a Class Consciousness. They Should Get One

Good morning, and thanks for spending part of your day with Extra Points.

Today, I’m happy to pass the mic over to Peyton Barish. Peyton is a former track athlete at NC State, and currently works as a college sports consultant. He pitched me a story last week that I’ve actually been considering writing myself, albeit not exactly the same way that Peyton frames it here.

Mostly because I’ve been out of a school a long time and I had to google John Rawls and the idea of Original Position. I would have probably gone for something substantially more lowbrow.

Anyway, Peyton and I both agree that in a world where the largest and most powerful conferences are demanding even more power, the little guys need to stick together. And with that, let me pass the microphone over to him.

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While all eyes in college athletics are on the approval and implementation of the House settlement, another significant change is happening within the NCAA. In January, the NCAA announced the formation of a working group to examine and recommend changes to Division I’s governance model. Last week, the NCAA released a webinar detailing some of the working group’s proposals. A couple of the most notable proposals:

• Weighted voting that would grant the Power 4 conferences (ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, and SEC) up to 65% of the voting power.
• No parallel autonomy for FCS and Division I AAA institutions.
• No independent directors on the NCAA Division I Board of Directors.

The kicker: The Division I Board will approve this radical governance change rather than a Division I wide vote.

All these changes continue a trend of the Power 4 taking more power from the hands of smaller Division I schools while continuing to shirk any responsibility of innovating a model that they have driven. They have had “Autonomy” status for ten years. Ask, what bold, cutting-edge path have they forged with that power? Some conference commissioners, including Dan Butterly at the Big West and Michael Cross at The Southern Conference, have written critiques of some proposed concepts.

Smaller Division I schools cannot hope to prosper in an environment where they do not have the autonomy to determine a path forward. If this trend continues, the rest of D1 will have to shoulder the burdens of D1 membership (costs, legal fees), without the benefits (championship access, self governance). These leagues need something new. 

They need a class consciousness, and they need it fast.

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