NCAA VP/D-I Governance Kevin Lennon said in regard to updating NIL rules, the NCAA is "at this critical phase of moving from the committee discussion to a broader membership conversation that will really begin in earnest" at the April 24 council meeting. Lennon: "While we need to modernize, and I think you will see robust proposals to do that, there's been a real re-commitment and refocus, if you will, on the value of the collegiate model, on making sure that whatever is done does not reflect a pay-for-play model." He added, "Whatever we do to enhance the name, image and likeness opportunities for student athletes, it's done with the context of this collegiate model." Lennon said he hopes people coming out of the council meetings this month will have a "really good understanding of how robust the set of recommendations are." Lennon: "There may be some who are actually a little bit surprised, candidly, by how far these recommendations are going" ("Inside the NCAA," YOUTUBE.com, 4/8).
PUT ON THE BACK-BURNER? Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said that he "understands that the landscape of college athletics will change once these new rules are put into place, but how those rules shake out remains to be seen, especially considering the health and financial issues the schools and conferences are dealing with during the coronavirus pandemic." Bowlsby: "It does sort of make it seem like NIL isn't quite as vitally important as it once was when you compare it to the life-and-death situations that many Americans are dealing with" (Huntington HERALD-DISPATCH, 4/8).
