The USA Today reported on the NCAA’s intent to investigate “the way in which Division I is organized for the purposes of making decisions.” According to the paper, NCAA President Mark Emmert will appoint a working group to look at the makeup of the board of directors and ensure that Division I non-football schools and those in the championship subdivision are properly represented.
In October 2011, the Knight Commission called for an independent examination of the governance model for Division I college sports citing concerns about the fragmented governance for the biggest engine driving college sports – college football.
The NCAA’s current governance structure with a board of directors as the policy-making authority has existed since the mid-1990s. Prior to this structure, each Division I institution had one vote and all policies were voted upon at an annual convention.
The NCAA’s membership structure for the more than 1,000 institutions in the association has not changed since 1973 when the current Divisions I, II and III were formed. In 1978, Division I separated the football-playing members into what now are known as the Football Bowl and Championship Subdivisions (formerly Division I-A and I-AA respectively)..