Mike Aresco said athlete compensation, the NCAA transfer portal and conference realignment have created a perfect storm for an unsettled situation.
As a result, the American Athletic Conference commissioner believes all Football Bowl Subdivision conferences need to have a coordinated approach toward stability – while somehow finding a middle ground between an amateur model of college athletics and increasing professionalism.
“The amateur model we have embraced for decades is gone. We can’t pretend that it still exists,” he said Thursday. “But at the other end of the spectrum is pure NFL-style professionalism. Is that what we want? Is there a reasonable middle ground that retains the student-athlete experience and does not make our student-athletes employees or union members? I believe there is.”
Using prepared remarks in a nearly half-hour statement at the start of his league’s media day for football, Aresco addressed key topics facing college sports. He described a pivotal moment with so many critical issues at the same time, including FBS conferences potentially splitting from the NCAA.
Aresco said football “is clearly a separate and distinct entity within the NCAA” that could benefit from its own governance structure. He said that makes sense because of the interconnection with the regular season and the College Football Playoff, but that it has to include all 10 FBS conferences, not only the Power Five leagues.