An Opportunity To Change The Structure Of The NCAA

With the current hiatus in sporting events, it might give leagues the opportunity to discuss what needs to be changed within the structure. One with the most operation scrutiny might be the NCAA.
Forbes released an article over this exact idea by authors Gerald Gurney, Donna A. Lopiano, and Andrew Zimbalist. They wrote Unwinding Madness: What Went Wrong with College Sports and How to Fix It and are members of the Board of Directors of The Drake Group.
The NCAA has modified some rules and thought about changing some regulations within as of late. These authors discuss some key elements that they believe should be changed.
The Elements to Change
One of those is governance. They believe the NCAA should return to a one member, one vote structure. Three principles should guide that vote: “first, the NCAA should promote the economic interests of all its members, not just the athletically powerful; second, it should emphasize the health and well-being of the athletes; and third, it should protect the economic interests of all enrolled students whose tuition and mandatory athletics fees are subsidizing athletics programs.”
Many within the NCAA have complained about the governance, including high profile coach John Calipari. Many of these principles would fix some of the issues that he has brought up in countless press conferences.
Another element is athlete well-being. They want the college football playoff to be re-structured as a 16-team NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision. One-hundred percent of the media rights proceeds would benefit athletic-injury insurance, long-term disability insurance, and coverage for uninsured medical expenses for every athlete.
They also discussed contact in sporting events and the head trauma that can be caused. These authors believe that “headers” in soccer and “checking” in ice hockey should be eliminated.
Even with a lot of negative news coming along with the research of CTE and its correlation to football, it’s hard to start changing the way that every sport is played. Contact is going to happen, but taking out every physical aspect is a large ask.
One idea they have might bring back college video games. They wrote that college athletes should be able to earn income using their likeness and names. This has been on the table and debated for quite some time.
This would allow for college sports games, which used to be available, to make a comeback. They also suggest they should be able to get outside employment, just like any other student.
Another change would ensure that everyone at the university gets to use the newest facilities. They want to prohibit the construction of any new facilities that are only open to varsity athletes.
This is understandable but somewhat tough to ask. Some of these facilities need to be available to these varsity athletes at all times. Maybe the entire facility can be used by other students, but an area should at least be dedicated to only varsity athletes.
They included other changes in the structure regarding finances. See the article here.