Major decisions by the NCAA's top decision-making body will need approval from all four major conferences — or help from a smaller conference — to pass under a set of rules approved Tuesday that are designed to streamline the way business is done by the nation's largest overseer of college athletics.
The Southeastern Conference had been pushing for it and the other three power conferences to receive a 17% voting share on the newly reshaped Division I Board of Directors, so that if one of the four conferences disagreed with a proposal the others could still band together to pass it with 51% of the vote.
But the legislation only increased their voting share to 16.1% each, which gives each conference power to waylay a policy it doesn't like.
The D-I board deals with finances, litigation and infractions unrelated to conditions set in the $2.8 billion antitrust settlement that allows schools to pay players as of July 1.
Though the NCAA plays virtually no role in overseeing Bowl Subdivision football, which is run by the College Football Playoff, this is the latest in an ongoing push to give the biggest, football-playing schools more autonomy in making decisions across the college landscape. The vote also won't directly impact the future of March Madness, where expansion has been on the docket but won't come this year.
Separately, the D-I board introduced a proposal to create three additional “units” to pay out for the men's and women's basketball tournaments. They would go to the finalists in each tournament. “Units” are worth around $2 million and are commonly distributed to the conferences of the teams that play.
The main business of this week's meetings was to reduce the number of members on the board from 24 to 13 people, with the representatives from the Power Four having a little more than four times the voting power than the rest. If one Power Four member disagreed with the other three, then one of the other nine members could still help a measure pass by voting in favor of it.
In May, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said the reason he sought more voting power was “because you can’t just have someone walk away at that level among four and everything stops.”
The NCAA touted the elimination of about 32% of its Division I committees as a strong signal that a long-running streamlining process was working. It also said athletes will have 40 more seats across 30 committees and will have voting seats on almost all them.
Neither Sankey nor the other three Power Four commissioners immediately responded to requests from The Associated Press for comment.
In a news release, the NCAA supplied reaction from six college sports leaders, only one of whom — Virginia Tech President Tim Sands, who is chair of the NCAA board — represented a power conference.
“The board’s vote to implement this new structure reflects the association’s commitment to a modernized approach to governing ourselves moving forward,” Sands said.
Sun Belt Commissioner Keith Gil, who is chair of the men's basketball committee for the upcoming season, said he applauded the board's work.
“While I recognize that all constituencies did not get everything they desired, it is a good governance framework that will allow all of us to thrive amidst the evolving collegiate athletics landscape,” Gil said.
AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports
FILE - The NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis is seen on July 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)
The architects of the Bazball revolution that England aimed to use to summit test cricket have conceded the preparation wasn't quite right for the Ashes. That's not to say the strategy will be shelved.
After arriving on Australian shores with great expectations, coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes were intent on imposing the attack-at-all-costs strategy on the contest for the oldest trophy in cricket.
After just one warmup game — an internal trial against the second-string England lineup — it quickly backfired.
Relying on a pragmatic, conventional approach to the game and long experience of the conditions, Australia retained the Ashes on Sunday with two matches remaining.
“Retrospectively, we lost 3-0 so you would probably say there was room for change there," McCullum told British broadcaster TNT Sport in terms of the preparations. “You put your hand up as a coach and say you might not have got that right.”
After England lost the first two tests by eight wickets, McCullum decided the squad had overdone it in training between the outings in Perth and Brisbane and decided to give the players a break at Noosa, one of Australia's premier beach resort villages.
The rest and relaxation did improve one statistic — in Adelaide England made it to Day 5 of a test for the first time on tour.
McCullum had been building for the Ashes series for years but hasn't yet been able to break the long drought in Australia extending back to 2011.
“We came here with high hopes, high ambitions and lofty goals,” he said. “And we’ve been outplayed across three test matches.”
The Bazball strategy was suspended late in Brisbane when Stokes played a conservative hand in trying to save the day-night test. In the last two days in Adelaide, with some glaring expectations, the batters at least tried to grit it out at the crease rather than hit the ball out of the ground every over.
“The last two days have been our best cricket, and that's because we've just played,” McCullum said. “The previous nine days, we were so caught up and so driven to achieve something and succeed that we've almost got in our own way and we've stymied our talent and our skill and our ability.”
McCullum said there were lessons to be taken from the differences in the contest in the third test.
“There's a lesson not just for the players. There's a lesson for the coach and the coaching staff,” he said. "Preparation, that'll be something that's questioned.
“But we do have a great opportunity in the next two tests. We need to find something out of this tour. We need to play for pride.”
England's bowling attack hasn't so far got its line and length right consistently on the hard, bouncy Australian wickets. Top-order batters have given away their wickets with poor shot selection — often attacking when conditions called for defense. There were too many catches put down, whereas Australia's catching has at times been exceptional.
Under Stokes and McCullum, whose nickname is “Baz,” England played an entertaining brand of cricket that earned the label “Bazball” that turned around the fortunes of England’s test team. But it has divided critics.
McCullum said some players had gone off script in the heat of the moment.
“I did think we were rock hard in our belief of the style we were going to play when we came down here, knowing that we were going to be challenged,” he said, “but I do think we got a little bit stuck.”
Stokes said there'd be no “restricting people’s mindset” in terms of how they believe they can succeed for the team.
“You never want to take away their ability to go out and score their runs in the way they feel is best going to suit them,” the England skipper said. "But then, marrying the skills and the ability that they have with the mentality that it takes to be successful as an international sportsman.
“You put those two together and I know that we’ve got a very, very exciting test team."
AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
England head coach Brendon McCullum talks to the media after Australia won the third Ashes Test against England in Adelaide, Australia, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/James Elsby)
England's Ben Stokes throws his bat as he reacts after he was out bowled during play on day three of the third Ashes cricket test between England and Australia in Adelaide, Australia, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/James Elsby)
England's Jofra Archer is congratulated by teammate Ben Stokes after taking a catch off his own bowling to dismiss Australia's Scott Boland during play on day four of the third Ashes cricket test between England and Australia in Adelaide, Australia, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/James Elsby)
England's Ben Stokes attends the presentation after losing the third Ashes Test against Australia in Adelaide, Australia, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/James Elsby)
Australian players celebrate after England's Ben Stokes, right, was dismissed during play on day four of the third Ashes cricket test between England and Australia in Adelaide, Australia, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/James Elsby)
