The Division I Council introduced legislative proposals that would change membership requirements for Football Bowl Subdivision schools. The council met this week in Indianapolis.
The proposals introduced into the legislative cycle will be voted on by the council at a future meeting after membership feedback is considered.
If adopted, all FBS schools would be required to provide 90% of the total number of allowable scholarships over a two-year rolling period across at least 16 sports, including football. Schools also would be required to offer at least 210 scholarships each year, amounting to no less than $6 million in athletics scholarships offered.
These requirements would take effect Aug. 1, 2027, for existing FBS members and for schools already transitioning to FBS membership. Moving forward, for schools applying to transition to FBS beginning in 2024-25 and thereafter, the requirements would have to be met by the end of the two-year transition process.
If these requirements are adopted, previously existing requirements for football attendance at FBS schools would be removed, effective immediately.
"These requirements will directly benefit college athletes competing in Division I sports by requiring significant investment in scholarship opportunities," said Jon Steinbrecher, commissioner of the Mid-American Conference and vice chair of the Division I Council. "Over the past several years, the NCAA's collected data about spending at FBS schools indicate that these requirements are reasonable and attainable for the majority of impacted athletics programs."
The council also introduced new legislation that would increase the fee to transition from FCS to FBS from $5,000 to $5 million. If adopted, the change would be effective immediately for schools initiating the transition process from that point forward. The fee would be reassessed regularly.
Health and safety requirements
The council also approved two membership requirements focused on health and safety. The first will require all Division I schools to establish policies and procedures to empower athletics health care administrators with authority to oversee a school's athletics health care.
The second mandates that all Division I schools attest at least once every four years that they are completing a comprehensive review of the school's support services for mental and physical health, safety and athletics performance.
Initially recommended by the Division I Transformation Committee, the new requirements are intended to enhance student-athlete access to health and safety measures. In adopting the new requirements, the council noted that the NCAA national office should provide resources to assist schools with those reviews, as requested, but emphasized the need for local medical professionals to participate in decision-making at member schools.
The requirements take effect Aug. 1, 2024.
Other membership requirements
The council in April adopted a number of new requirements for student-athlete benefits, including the provision of career counseling and life skills programming.
The council this week adopted a requirement that all DI member schools will be required to attest that all coaches have completed required education and training in specified areas, effective Aug. 1, 2025.
The council also adopted additional requirements for rules compliance efforts. Each member school will be required to complete a compliance review — involving an authority outside the athletics department — at least once every four years and provide written confirmation of that review's completion to the NCAA national office. These reviews must consider, at minimum, compliance efforts that directly tie to compliance needs of college athletes.
Each school will be required annually to attest that the athletics director or a designated representative has reviewed NCAA rules with athletics department staff, as well as institutional staff outside of athletics whose roles intersect with the administration of college sports (e.g., registrar/admissions, financial aid).
These requirements are effective Aug. 1, 2024.
