NCAA President Emmert Urges School Presidents To Support Four-Year Scholarships

NCAA President Mark Emmert has “reached out to Division I presidents urging them to support what is becoming the controversial implementation of four-year scholarships,” according to Dennis Dodd of CBSSPORTS.com. Emmert in a letter “asks the presidents to defeat the override proposal on legislation that is allowing four-year scholarships for athletes.” Emmert in the letter said, “It (override) will take away the opportunity for multi-year support for thousands of student-athletes. As we are a presidentially led Association, it is important that you direct what the vote of your institution will be. I encourage you to defeat the override of this proposal.” Dodd noted presidents “can vote online next week beginning" Feb. 13 through 5:00pm ET on Feb. 17. It will take “222 schools out of 355 in Division I to override the measure.” If the proposal “survives, four-year scholarships would still be optional only for each school.” The one-year renewable scholarship “has been in effect since 1973.” Big Ten Associate Commissioner for Compliance Chad Hawley said, “I’d be surprised, frankly, if it’s overridden. The proposal [came] out of a working group on student-athlete welfare. Nationally there seems to be a commitment to keeping it in play. I’d be more surprised than not if it went away.” Last month, the board “delayed implementation of the annual $2,000 player stipend” and asked that the working group “come back with a modified proposal by April.” Even if a new proposal gets through in April, it “would have to survive a 60-day comment period.” During that time “there would be a second chance to override” (CBSSPORTS.com, 2/6).