NCAA autonomy structure moves forward after avoiding override

Barely more than a third of the required votes to override the NCAA Board of Directors' August decision to move to restructure Division were filed by Monday's deadline, meaning that the wealthiest college conferences can move forward with a more autonomous operational plan.

The NCAA announced that 27 of 345 Division I members voted to override the board, far less than the 75 required to force reconsideration of the legislation.

The autonomous structure is intended to give college athletes and athletic directors – the practitioners of college sports – more of a voting voice, as well as potentially provide unprecedented benefits for athletes at the 65 schools tied to the wealthiest athletic conferences – the ACC, the Big Ten, the Big 12, the Pac-12, the SEC and Notre Dame. Those benefits include improvements in cost of attendance, insurance, health and well care, meals, and four-year scholarships, for example.

Changes may be voted on as soon as the 2015 NCAA Convention in January.

The 27 schools pushing for an override were: the entire Colonial Athletic Association membership (College of Charleston, Delaware, Drexel, Elon, Fordham, Hofstra, James Madison, Northeastern, Towson and William and Mary), Bradley and Indiana State of the Missouri Valley Conference, Chattanooga and Wofford of the Southern Conference, Houston Baptist, McNeese State, Nicholls State, Sam Houston State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi of the Southland Conference, New Hampshire and Vermont of the America East, Iona and Saint Peter's of the Metro Atlantic, Loyola (Chicago) of the Horizon, Seattle University of the WAC, and University of Denver.