Sports Business Journal: Knight Commission’s Len Elmore Defends Case for FBS Separation

The leading sports industry trade publication highlighted our new co-chair’s comments explaining why it’s so important for the NCAA to incorporate our Division I reform ideas, including a major change in revenue distribution:

Knight Commission co-Chair Len Elmore defended the group’s recent proposal to create an entity separate from the NCAA to govern FBS football, calling the current model “financially dysfunctional.” Elmore’s argument came on Thursday at the Learfield IMG College Intercollegiate Athletics Forum after many college leaders — including NCAA President Mark Emmert and SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey — criticized the commission’s idea throughout the week.

Elmore said the FBS “lacks accountability” to the rest of the NCAA because of the outsize power of major college football, and because it is beholden to outside stakeholders, such as the CFP, in ways the rest of the NCAA is not. “The NCAA revenue distribution formula should only count for sports that the NCAA operates in postseason and controls the revenues,” Elmore said. “And in FBS, they don’t do that.” He added that over $60M “could be saved” by separating the [sport of football in the] FBS.

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