Sports Betting and Division I Governance May Be Redefined at the NCAA’s June Meetings

Several urgent issues may be on the agenda when the NCAA Division I Council convenes later this month. The 40-member council, which represents all 32 Division I conferences, will talk about whether the NCAA’s current ban on athletes wagering on professional sports should be lifted.

The Division I Board of Directors has discussed the rule change in the last month, and the Division I Council is expected to discuss the subject when it meets on June 24th and 25th, a source told On3. The D-I Board voted 21–1 in favor of directing the council to “adopt legislation to deregulate the prohibition on wagering on professional sports.” Sports Illustrated first reported on the possible rule change in May. Athletes, coaches and staff members are currently not allowed to wager on professional sports that are also NCAA-sponsored.

However, there will be other high-profile topics covered later this month outside sports betting. The 24 member D-I Board of Directors will hear from the Decision-Making Working Group, which has been investigating a new governance model, during its June 23 meeting. In recent weeks, the organization has been gathering input and has released a YouTube video that breaks out the suggested structure.

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In addition to eliminating thirty committees, it would provide the Power Four the ability to direct the results of D-I governance. Under the proposed paradigm, the major conferences would have up to 65% of the weighted voting power in rules-making committees that make decisions about athlete eligibility and the transfer site, among other things. Greg Sankey, the commissioner of the SEC, has stated that he would want to see that number increase to 68%.

In particular, the action would expedite the legislative process by lowering the levels of scrutiny. To pass an issue, though, all four Power Four conferences would need to vote together at the suggested 65%. The proposal may be accelerated if the D-I Board chooses to forward the recommendations of the Decision-Making Working Group to the D-I Council as emergency legislation. If the D-I board took action to designate the governance changes as emergency legislation, it is unclear how quickly they would be implemented.

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