NCAA President Mark Emmert this week is "traveling to Tokyo to consult with government officials, sports industry leaders and at least 20 university presidents about Japan’s desire to form its own collegiate athletics association," according to Zach Schonbrun of the N.Y. TIMES. Japanese colleges are "considering modeling their new system" after the NCAA. If successful, Japan would "become one of the few countries outside the United States to establish an NCAA-type governing body for college athletics." Emmert described his Japanese visit as "'exploratory' and driven mostly by what he hears from American university leaders looking to bolster their international standing." Emmert: "We don’t have any grand design to spread the NCAA into some global enterprise." Schonbrun writes it is clear that "interest in increasingly big-time college athletics is resonating beyond the states." Emmert noted that many countries "distinguish between academics and athletics, and most do not view the integration of student-athletes the way American colleges do." Emmert added, "What I’m going to try to emphasize in Japan is those two things can go together quite nicely. But with the right structure. ... The rest of the world is looking at what we do. And they’re coming to understand that there are some really positive outcomes for their students" (N.Y. TIMES, 8/29).
