Southland commissioner Tom Burnett called the NCAA Division I Board of Directors’ approval last week of a proposal that would allow for schools to provide up to $2,000 to full-scholarship student-athletes a possible “game-changer” in collegiate sports.
The approved measure will allow conferences to vote on whether they will provide the money to some or all of their sports, in order to better cover the full cost of attendance.
Southern Conference commissioner John Iamarino, like Burnett, oversees a mid-major conference that plays in the Football Championship Subdivision and has numerous schools, like the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, who are already having to work hard to make ends meet financially.
Iamarino said the SoCon will have to take into consideration what other conferences are doing, while also making smart financial decisions.
“One of the factors that we’ll certainly look at is what we hear and see from comparable conferences,” he said. “Whether they go ahead and do it may influence our decision, but we have to be fiscally responsible.