NCAA Committee Introduces New Draft of Constitution

The NCAA Constitution Committee on Tuesday released the latest draft of a proposed new constitution for review by NCAA member schools and conferences. The latest draft addresses several items noted at the Special Convention, responses from delegate surveys and additional feedback from across the association.

"Guided by membership feedback, the NCAA Constitution Committee has continued its work to reform the governance of college sports," Robert M. Gates wrote in a memo to members on Monday. The former secretary of defense and former president of Texas A&M serves as chair of the Constitution Committee and an independent member of the NCAA Board of Governors.

Based on membership feedback, the committee made several revisions to the draft constitution, including:

• When referencing name, image and likeness opportunities for student-athletes, broader language allows for evolution while still prohibiting pay for play.  
• Combining the concepts of institutional control and compliance to minimize redundancy.
• An emphasis on protecting student-athlete well-being as a shared responsibility across higher education, including at the campus, conference, division and national levels.
• A clarification that the Board of Governors will approve Association contracts regarding media rights and revenue-producing agreements in consultation as appropriate with divisional bodies.
• Explicitly stating the board also will consult with divisional bodies on its evaluation of the NCAA president.
• Highlighting the board's consultation with divisional bodies regarding agenda items with a commitment to transparency on anticipated action items.
• Noting the student-athlete voting member of the board will represent all three divisions.
• Clarifying that the faculty athletics representative is the principal point of contact for student-athletes with concerns about their well-being but is not a legal advocate.
• Stating that multiple designations, such as FAR and senior woman administrator, among others, can be assigned to one person and senior compliance administrator must be an appointed designation.
• Changing the process for amendments to constitutional amendments to require a two-thirds vote, not majority, consistent with other procedures to change the constitution.
• Broadening the diversity and inclusion and gender equity language to indicate the shared responsibility of these important principles.
• Modifying the enforcement-related language to address the various points of feedback raised and to make more explicit that enforcement is to be a divisional responsibility with support as requested from the Association.
• Establishing an Association-wide definition of a national collegiate championship.
• Clarifying that each division must determine how multidivisional sport classification should be managed.

Members can offer feedback on the latest draft constitution through Saturday. The Constitution Committee will make its final recommendations to the Board of Governors by Dec. 15. Members across all three divisions will vote on the draft constitution at the 2022 NCAA Convention in January.