College sports could move further away from amateurism model

The amateurism model in college sports may continue to further wither away.

As Yahoo Sports college football reporter Ross Dellenger noted this week, the NCAA is mulling more significant changes to its amateurism model.

Dellenger obtained documents that the NCAA’s Division I Council is expected to review soon and these documents outline potentially historic changes coming to college sports.

One of the big items up for review, Dellenger notes, is that NCAA member institutions are considering whether to allow student-athletes in all sports (and not just football and wrestling) the “ability to participate in up to a certain percentage of games in a fifth season and still use their redshirt.”

If such a rule were enacted, it could have seismic implications for college basketball, baseball and other sports. Dellenger reports that if this policy shifted, NCAA committees would determine how many games or matches a player could participate in before he or she exhausts a year of collegiate eligibility.

Another possibly drastic change would center on the potential elimination of the NCAA’s National Letter of Intent (“NLI”) program.

“The ‘core benefits’ of the National Letter of Intent,” Dellenger writes, “will be incorporated into the institution’s athletics financial aid and scholarship agreements, according to the document.”

Dellenger cited several other rule changes that are being evaluated which pertain to student-athletes’ pre-college enrollment.

One item revolves around prize money. Under current NCAA bylaws, athletes can’t accept any form of prize money for athletic participation — beyond things such as meals and travel expenses — without potentially impacting their collegiate eligibility.

Dellenger reports that according to the obtained documents, a change being considered would permit athletes who received this so-called prize money to retain their Division I eligibility.

Another possible rule change, the reporter notes, would afford agents “more access with athletes on professional endeavors before and during their college careers.”

These types of changes to collegiate sports aren’t overly surprising, as Dellenger points out. The landscape in college athletics has been evolving for several years now, amid the transfer portal’s explosion, the NCAA’s approval of name, image and likeness deals and ongoing conference realignment.

Arguably the biggest factor in the shift away from an amateurism model is the NCAA’s proposed multi-billion dollar agreement to settle several antitrust lawsuits at the federal level. This agreement would pave the way for schools to share millions of dollars in revenue per year with their athletes.

Regarding the latest proposed NCAA rule changes, Dellenger relays that while they’re “expected” due to the upcoming revenue-sharing, these potential changes are also “historic and significant in nature – the latest steps in college sports’ evolution away from the amateurism model that has cost it billions in legal losses.”