BTN.com staff, April 24, 2014

The NCAA's board of directors took the first step toward shifting power to the five largest football conferences on Thursday, endorsing a 57-page plan that calls for giving 65 of the nation's biggest schools more autonomy in how to fund scholarships, handle health care and decide other increasingly hot-button issues involving their athletes. Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany appeared on Thursday's "#BTNLive" to discuss the latest developments, and you can watch that entire interview in this post.

If approved later this year, schools in the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC could implement some rules on their own and would get more voting power over legislation that would affect every NCAA member school. The proposal would affect the 65 schools in the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC. Read the full Associated Press story here.

The NCAA steering committee is seeking more feedback on the how the remaining 27 conferences would want to apply decisions made by the 65 schools in the five highest-profile conferences. Areas in which the membership generally agrees on autonomy for the five conferences include:

  • financial aid, including full cost of attendance and scholarship guarantees;
  • insurance, including policies that protect future earnings;
  • academic support, particularly for at-risk student-athletes; and
  • other support, such as travel for families, free tickets to athletics events, and expenses associated with practice and competition (such as parking).

Read more about the details of this process in this story at NCAA.org.