NCAA Division I Governance

Streamlined Governance Structure  

As Division I athletics evolves, so should its governance structure. Approved in August 2025, the structure marks a bold step forward, ensuring that Division I athletics remains responsive and adaptive in an ever-changing landscape. 

Over time, the way the NCAA has managed Division I college sports ballooned into a committee-heavy structure, with 44 Division I committees and over 525 committee members. The new structure consists of 30 Division I committees with just over 480 committee members — in other words, 32% fewer committees.  At the same time, the new structure dramatically increases committee seats for student-athletes, more than doubling their representation.

With a focus on less bureaucracy that empowers committees and committee members to focus on decisions that are best for the division in an efficient and timely manner, the new structure is flexible, defensible, adaptable, predictable, accessible, straightforward and boldly different than the structure that preceded it.

The revised committees aim to reinforce the tie between college athletics and the academy, protect athletics opportunities and provide a sustainable environment for the division. They include:

• The Division I Board of Directors as the highest-ranking governing body for the division, with oversight of the Division I budget, select litigation matters and infractions processes.
• The Administrative Committee as the body with legislative and policy oversight in specified areas, including ethical conduct, academic and athletics eligibility, membership and championships.
• The Academics and Eligibility Committee, which will report to the Administrative Committee and — via two subcommittees — have oversight over minimum student-athlete standards for academic and athletics eligibility requirements.
• The Membership Committee, which will strategically manage membership items, including but not limited to, reclassification processes and Division I membership requirements for active Division I schools and conferences.
• The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, which will continue to represent the voice of Division I student-athletes. Each Division I multisport conference will continue to have a student-athlete representative.
• Sport-specific oversight committees, which will report to the Administrative Committee and have authority over legislation governing conduct of athletics personnel, playing and practice seasons, recruiting (subject to Administrative Committee review), and authority over Division I playing rules and championship administration. Sports oversight committees already exist in football (Football Bowl Subdivision and Football Championship Subdivision) and men’s and women’s basketball. The new sport-specific oversight model ensures that coaches are represented in decisions about their respective sports, including designated seats for a coaches’ association representative on each oversight committee.

Even as the NCAA changes the way it governs, several things that work well and fairly for all Division I schools will remain the same. Revenue distribution formulas and automatic qualification for postseason/championships will not change with the new governance structure. These remain division-dominant rules, meaning any changes must occur at an annual or special convention, are subject to the one-school-one-vote standard and require at least a two-thirds majority vote of Division I delegates present and voting.

Increased Student-Athlete Voice and Tie to Academics  

From Congress to campus, there is consensus that the student-athlete voice must increase in the modern era. The new governance model reflects that commitment, significantly increasing student-athlete participation and voting authority. Student-athletes now serve — and vote — on additional governance and sports oversight committees, more than doubling the current student-athlete participation on committees.

The national Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee will continue to provide feedback and ideas on behalf of over 190,000 student-athletes across the division. SAAC will increase its collaboration with the current NCAA Division I Football and Men’s and Women’s Basketball Student-Athlete Engagement Groups to ensure that student-athlete perspectives are integrated into key areas of decision-making and policy development.

With a focus on reinforcing the tie between college athletics and the academy, the number of faculty athletics representatives serving on committees also increased. FARs now have a seat on governance and sports oversight committees, emphasizing the continued need to tie academics to committee decision-making.

Flexible Decision-Making  

In addition to revising its governance structure, the NCAA continues to modernize its rules to improve outcomes for student-athletes in this new era. In the coming months, committees will review current rules and suggest decentralizing certain regulatory areas that are currently applicable to all of Division I. Decentralization will allow subdivisions (subject to a risk assessment), conferences or schools to establish regulations in areas that are no longer identified as national standards, empowering local decision-making that reflects the best interests of the subdivision, conference or schools and the student-athletes they represent.

The division will also recommend a modification to the 11 areas of NCAA rules currently designated as areas of autonomy, allowing those areas to be acted on by each subdivision. The current 11 areas include:

• Athletics personnel.
• Insurance and career transition.
• Promotional activities unrelated to athletics participation.
• Recruiting restrictions.
• Preenrollment expenses and support.
• Financial aid.
• Awards, benefits and expenses.
• Academic support.
• Health and wellness.
• Meals and nutrition.
• Time demands.

Each change is rooted in keeping student-athletes and the commitment to academics at the forefront of Division I college sports. While this is a time of change, this is also an enormous opportunity.