By Brian C. Mahoney @BMahoney_HB and Michelle K. Piasecki @MPiasecki_HB
When Division I Members meet for the 2017 NCAA Convention in January, student-athlete time demands will likely be the top legislative priority for the second year in a row. Time demands proposals were supposed to take center stage during last year’s NCAA Convention after the Pac-12 developed a number of progressive rule proposals, but reform was ultimately delayed when the Power 5 Conferences punted on adopting the proposals, and instead passed a resolution to refer the matter to the larger NCAA governance body for review and development with the goal of voting on the issue at the 2017 NCAA Convention. Members of the five autonomy conferences vowed to develop further proposals addressing student-athlete time demands in time for consideration at the 2017 NCAA Convention and appear ready to deliver on that promise as a number of athletic conferences and committees have proposed rules concepts that are aimed at providing student-athletes with more time away from athletics.
One such proposal, referred to as “Flex 21” is designed to provide student-athletes with an additional 21 days free from “required athletic activities” (intended to be broader than countable athletically related activities) during the academic year. Under this rule, student-athletes would be guaranteed at least one week off at the conclusion of their athletic season and an additional 14 days off at other times throughout the academic year. Coaches, students, and administrators have the flexibility to determine when those days off should occur for each respective sport, whether in season or out of season. Depending on the sport, coaches may need to get creative to find the right balance between granting their players more time off and preparing for the playing season. For example, basketball coaches may decide to backload all 21 days off until after the season since individual skills and team practices usually begin before or at the same time as the start of fall semester and games do not conclude until mid-March or April. Softball and baseball coaches, on the other hand, may decide to provide their athletes with a longer winter break or more days off during the week to meet the requirement since their teams are busy practicing and playing games throughout the fall and spring periods.
In conjunction with the Flex 21 rule, coaches and athletic directors will be tasked with developing time management plans for each sport to help athletes better identify the time they will have to commit to all required athletically related activities, which in addition to practice, games, conditioning, and film, would include such activities as compliance and team meetings, promotional and media engagements, host duties, and community service. Time spent with health and medical staff for injury prevention and treatment, or activities related to student-athletes’ academic pursuits, such as study hall or tutoring, are not considered “required athletic activities.” The NCAA Student-Athlete Experience Committee is currently considering whether to submit a legislative proposal that would require Division I schools to share these time management plans with prospective student-athletes as a means of educating athletes on the significant requirements associated with pursuing Division I athletics. If such a rule is passed, Division II and III schools could potentially seek to leverage those plans to entice some student-athletes to forego the high-pressure, time-sensitive environment of Division I athletics for the more laid-back environment of Division II and III athletics.
Another proposal requires a consecutive eight-hour block of free time between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. This means that if a team schedules a morning conditioning workout at 5:30 a.m., it must conclude all required athletic activities by 9:30 p.m. the evening prior. Further, a new rule proposal would prohibit coaches from counting travel days toward student-athletes’ one required day off per week during the season.
Commissioners for each of the Power 5 Conferences have already agreed in principal to Flex 21 and the other rule proposals noted above, meaning the rules will more than likely be adopted without much fanfare in January and take effect for the 2017-2018 athletics year. However, the Division I Council has proposed two additional time demands rules that may spur a lot of interesting discussion at the Convention regarding opportunities for college athletes to pursue internships and semesters spent studying abroad.
Under the Council’s proposed rules, the clock on a student-athlete’s five-year eligibility period would stop during each semester the student participated in a study abroad program, internship, or similar work experience. For the exception to apply the student-athlete must otherwise be academically and athletically eligible, enrolled as a full-time student, satisfactorily fulfill the requirements of the program or internship, graduate in five years or less, and avoid participating in practice or competition while completing the program or internship. Further, any student-athlete participating in a study-abroad program or internship would still receive financial aid but that aid would not count towards a team’s financial aid limits, meaning a team could potentially add an additional athlete to its roster to cover for the loss of the student-athlete during the period of the internship or study abroad program.
In order for the rule to work as intended, coaches would need to encourage their student-athletes to partake in semesters and/or years off from their athletic pursuits, but that could put the coaching staff in a precarious position if the athlete is particularly talented or an integral part of the team’s overall success. In addition, coaches may support the portion of the rule that allows for additional players to be added to the team to off-set the lost scholarship player during that period, but will the coach have enough advance warning to sign another player and how will the financial aid limit be impacted once the player returns from his or her internship or semester(s) spent studying abroad? Further, how will a coach balance his or her roster if a student-athlete pursues time abroad or working and graduates early, meaning the coach may potentially only have the student-athlete for two of the allowable four years?
While the larger Division I membership body considers these rule changes, several schools and conferences have adopted their own independent time demand policies and use those policies as a recruiting tool to demonstrate their commitment to helping student-athletes find the right balance between their academic and athletic goals. The Ivy League, for instance, already requires a two-week recovery period at the end of a student-athletes playing season and a 10 hour overnight window wherein no athletically related activities are permitted. Further, the University of Nebraska recently launched a new “post-eligibility opportunities” program for graduated student-athletes, which provides up to $7,500 in scholarship funding towards earning an advanced degree, studying abroad, or securing an internship. The program, which debuted last year, is available for any athlete who has exhausted his or her playing eligibility, completed his or her bachelor’s degree, and earned a varsity letter in either more than one year, or during his or her last year of athletics eligibility. Student-athletes who meet these requirements have three years to take advantage of the scholarship program.
The full slate of rules proposals will be made available for Division I membership review beginning November 1st. Although, there may not be any groundbreaking rules adopted during the 2017 Convention, depending on what happens with the Council’s two proposals noted above, discussion of student-athlete time demands is likely to continue in the future as the proposals introduced this year are intended to be the first in a multiyear progressive overall of time requirements for each individual sport.
Mahoney and Piasecki are attorneys at Harris Beach. For more on Mahoney, visit: https://www.harrisbeach.com/bio/mahoney-brian-c/ For more on Piasecki, visit: https://www.harrisbeach.com/bio/piasecki-michelle-k/
