Apr 22, 2010 5:35:03 PM

Now that the NCAA's new contract with CBS Sports and Turner Broadcasting has been signed, a group of five Division I presidents – headed by Nebraska Chancellor Harvey Perlman – and four Division I commissioners has been charged with reviewing how the additional revenue will be distributed.

Currently, 96 percent of all NCAA revenue is returned to membership either in direct payments or in programs and services; 60 percent is distributed to directly to Division I members through a series of funds.
Those distributions are based on a three-part formula that takes into account the number of sports that conferences and institutions sponsor, the number of grants-in-aid schools provide and teams' performance over a rolling, six-year period in the men's basketball tournament.

The formula was established in 1989 just after the Association announced a seven-year, $1 billion agreement with CBS. At the time, NCAA Executive Director Richard Schultz appointed a special committee that worked to reach a consensus on a fair way to distribute what then was an unprecedented amount of revenue.

The group head by Perlman will follow principles of the current formula that ensure direct-dollar distribution equal to or greater than the current rights contracts to Division I, iterated as follows:At a minimum, ensure current distribution percentage for support of student-athlete well-being (special assistance, student-athlete opportunity funds).

• At a minimum, ensure current distribution percentages for support of broad-based sports sponsorship and grants-in-aid in an effort to promote a maximum level of student-athlete participation opportunities. Maintain the current proportionality of two thirds grants-in-aid and one third sports sponsorship in the broad-based distribution.
• At a minimum, ensure current distribution percentage for support of academic enhancement for student-athlete academic programs and services and to improve team Academic Progress Rate and Graduation Success Rate.
• Recognize and reward basketball championship participation excellence that may include minimum levels of academic success.
• At a minimum, ensure current distribution percentage for distribution through conference grants to support officiating programs, conference compliance and enforcement, drug education, professional development for ethnic minorities and women, and anti-gambling education.

Importantly, the group will review whether to insert academic performance (as measured by the Academic Progress Rate and the Graduation Success Rate) into the basketball portion of fund. That fund currently is distributed based solely on competition.

The idea to tie academic performance more directly with distributions came from the late NCAA President Myles Brand and has continued on as a concept to consider. The committee will have at its disposal various models from past years that reveal how an academic tie-in would have affected conference distributions.

But the review also will involve some mathematical changes if the Division I Board of Directors approves a men's basketball committee recommendation to expand the tournament field to 68 teams beginning next year. 

Any expansion would demand a recalculation of the financial units that accrue to participating teams.

Besides Perlman, other presidents on the review panel are Judy Genshaft of South Florida, Ann Millner of Weber State and Milton Gordon of Cal State Fullerton.

Commissioners on the group are Mike Slive of the Southeastern Conference, Jim Delany of the Big Ten Conference, Patrick Nero of America East and Britton Banowsky of Conference USA.

The group will receive staff assistance from Division I Vice President David Berst and NCAA Chief Financial Officer Keith Martin.

The committee is expected to provide recommendations to the Board of Directors in August.