Following the Big Ten’s lead from earlier this month, the Pac-12 announced that it will make “sweeping reforms” that will benefit athletes. The move comes on the heels of the decision to give the Power 5 conferences more autonomy to make decisions regarding student-athlete welfare, along with the O’Bannon decision, which put a serious dent in the NCAA’s amateurism rules. These are the five biggest measures from the Pac-12’s decision:
Pac-12 will give 4-year scholarships, increased medical coverage
The Pac-12 announced major reforms on the heels of the autonomy and O’Bannon decisions.
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- Athletic scholarships will be guaranteed for four years for student-athletes in all sports.
- Student-athletes who leave school before graduating will be able to use the remainder of their educational expenses later to earn their degrees.
- Medical expenses for student-athletes who are injured during their college athletic careers will be covered for up to four years after a student-athlete leave the institution.
- Student-athletes who transfer between Pac-12 institutions will be able to receive athletic scholarships immediately.
- Student-athletes will be represented in the Conference governance structure.
Four-year scholarships and lifetime education guarantees are likely coming to all Power 5 schools under autonomy, but the latter three reforms are much more interesting. Medical payments have come to the forefront of the athlete welfare conversation, and they were a major discussion topic in the Northwestern football team’s successful unionization attempt. Before these reforms, medical support was up to each individual school and generally not as comprehensive for former athletes.
While the NCAA transfer rule that mandates transferring athletes sit out a year still exists, many conferences have their own rules that don’t allow athletes to transfer within the conference unless they pay their own way. The Pac-12 is ending that rule. It also plans on giving athletes a bigger voice in its governance structure, like the new NCAA model will do, though the depth of that voice is unclear.
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