NCAA President Mark Emmert said the Knight Commission's recommendation to separate FBS football from the NCAA is “exactly the wrong thing to do.” Speaking during the '20 Learfield IMG College Intercollegiate Athletics Forum, Emmert said the commission is “diagnosing some of the right problems, but they’ve got a completely wrong prescription.” Though there are “plenty of issues to address” around FBS, Emmert believes the separation of FBS into a new entity would be an “ill-advised approach.” Meanwhile, Emmert addressed the NCAA's decision to move its basketball tournaments to a bubble environment. For the men’s tournament, the “obvious place to do that” is Indianapolis, Emmert said, where the ’21 Final Four was already scheduled to take place. Emmert noted Indianapolis has “a lot of facilities and a lot of logistics that could work.” While they “haven’t made a firm, clear decision” yet, Emmert said one is expected in the coming weeks. He added they still need to “work out all of our health protocols” before finalizing any plans. For the women’s tournament, San Antonio, where that Final Four was set to take place in ’21, continues to be looked at as a potential site (Mike Boylan, THE DAILY).
LESSONS LEARNED FROM PANDEMIC: In an interview with the AP, Emmert said that he "hopes lessons learned through navigating the pandemic will lead college sports leaders to be more open to future reform and to prioritize opportunities for athletes when it comes time to cut costs." Emmert: "We’ve done a whole array of things, many of which member schools in the past have said, 'No, no, no, we can't do that. That's not right.' Well, we’re doing it. And the sporting world hasn’t collapsed." He added, "So can we as we move forward, say, well, why can’t we continue to do that? Why can’t we continue to provide more flexibility?" (AP, 12/9).
