Blogger Roundtable: The Future of the NCAA

What will the NCAA look like in five years? We gave our thoughts, so now it's your turn.  Answer our poll at the top of the blog and then leave a comment at the bottom of this post explaining why. 

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has never faced the instability it faces today.  The governing body for college sports is under assault from all angles.  Current student-athletes are demanding increased and more direct compensation and increase economic rights (such as the ability to use their name and image).  Former Division I football and basketball players have an ongoing lawsuit against the NCAA over the use of images in the popular video games (the players have already settled with EA Sports for $40 Million). 

With the visibility of under-the-table payment and other suspect recruiting tactics increasing its highest levels in decades, coaches and administrators are even proposing "pay-for-play" models.  Some in college athletics, do not agree about the role of the NCAA.  Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delaney expressed his view stating “If athletes want to professionalize themselves, then professionalize themselves... but why is it our job to be the minor leagues for professional sports?" NCAA President Mark Emmert stated "a lot of change" is ahead for his organization.

So we asked the question, "What will the NCAA look like in five years?"  Here is what our bloggers had to say:

Stephen Rosen (Lead Editor)

In the next five years, the NCAA will no longer be the governing body for football. Currently the Football Bowl Series (Division 1A Football) is the only sport the NCAA does not control the playoff for and soon it will not regulate the sport at all. The closer and closer the colleges move to four 16-team conferences, the closer they will move away from the NCAA as its regulatory body. The NCAA has consistently been inconsistent in its punishment of schools and players and its only time until the schools realize their association with them is not necessary to truly maximize their profits. As for the other sports, only basketball has a chance of surviving as an independent sport outside of the NCAA due to its large revenue steam, but it will most likely be kept in as part of the NCAA's current structure. By leaving the structure of the NCAA, the possibility would arise where new rules where players could get paid for playing for college football while other student athletes in other sports may not be equally compensated.

Adam Malz (Featured Blogger)

In five years, the NCAA will have a drastically different landscape. Of course next year starts the four team playoff system in college football which should certainly kick up some new debates, but I think that in five years this playoff system with expand to fit eight teams. Another major difference in the NCAA will be in regard to conferences. We have recently seen schools from all across the nation swapping conferences and moving around with every university trying to find the “perfect fit” for them. In reality it comes down to where they can make the most money off of their best sports. The next five years is sure to contain much more of this mixing and matching that seems to be the new cultural norm around the NCAA.

Matthew Hakimian (Featured Blogger)

In five years, Division I football and basketball student athletes will finally be monetarily compensated after years of being exploited by the NCAA. The BCS will cease to exist, as the playoff system will be an absolute hit; eight teams will have the right to make their claim as the greatest college football team in the nation. The NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament will further expand to a whopping 96 teams, with a entire full rounded added to March Madness. Both sports will feature just four powerhouse conferences: the ACC, Big Ten, SEC, and Pac 12. With the AAC (former Big East) and the Big 12 folding or losing prominence, each conference will contain around 20 schools

Joshua Goldstein

Due to the NCAA's growing revenues from various television and advertising contracts, I believe that there will be some sort of supplemental payment plan for student athletes in five years. I don't believe that athletes will have set contracts with the NCAA, but rather there will be pay plans in which students receive a small portion of their university's revenues from television contracts and merchandise sales.

What will the NCAA look like in five years? We gave our thoughts, so now it's your turn.  Answer our poll at the top of the blog and then leave a comment at the bottom of this post explaining why.