Necessary changes to the NCAA

The NCAA is the governing body of collegiate athletes.  They currently operate with no true government involvement and are outside of the rules of the constitution.  As more issues and violations appear from colleges and universities all over the nation, it is time for serious changes in this entity. 

One of the more notable issues is the discrepancy between division I schools and the rest of the NCAA.  The Division I schools are moneymaking institutions banking millions of dollars in revenue annually.  This is from the growth and popularity of football and basketball at such schools as Alabama and Kansas.  With increases in revenue come opportunities to abuse rules and regulations by the NCAA.  In addition to this, advancements in technology and the use of social media introduce avenues and concerns not addressed in the rules.  On the other hand, there are other outdates rules and many rules are not universal for the member schools.  Changes are also as simple as rewording the language so that it is easier to understand and minimizes confusion or misapplication of rules.  This speaks to an effort to increase fairness no matter the size of a school or how much money it makes. 

The NCAA currently is not a “state-actor,” which means it is not an arm of the government.  This means that any rules, old and new, are not a violation of the constitutional rights of a school.  This was decided in 1988 when NCAA vs. Tarkanian established this status of the NCAA.  However, in a more recent case, the NCAA may have overstepped its bounds by collaborating with a university, an entity that is an arm of the government, to possibly get a coach fired because of false allegations.  NCAA investigators coerced students to lie on their coach.  No matter the reasoning behind the coercion, by acting with the school, the NCAA becomes in effect a state-actor.  The results of this case may go a long way in determining how the NCAA governs schools, sets regulations and punishments.  This may be just the window of opportunity many schools have been looking for to completely overhaul the NCAA. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/24/opinion/nocera-standing-up-to-the-ncaa.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/7752910/ncaa-looking-potential-governance-changes-division-i