Collegiate athletics are in a major transitional phase, so Mark Emmert is stressing the importance of the NCAA not remaining stagnant amidst all the change.
According to ESPN, Emmert, the president of the NCAA since 2010, spoke at the governing body's annual convention Thursday night. He said the next several years will be crucial for the NCAA's sustainability, given what has happened in the past year.
"We've made a lot of change and had a lot of success in the last three years or so, and I don't mean just in bylaws or policy actions," Emmert said in his address, according to NCAA.com. "We've also made a lot of changes in the way we think about some of these issues and even some of the philosophical discussions we bring to these issues."
For example, athletic department leaders from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC - otherwise known as the Power 5 Conferences - will meet later this weekend to discuss their newly granted autonomy. Under a recent proposal from the NCAA, the 65 Power 5 schools will be able to govern themselves with more autonomy than they already had. Their first set of new legislation is expected to be a prominent discussion in their meeting Saturday.
The Power 5 autonomy model came on the heels of the Ed O'Bannon vs. NCAA lawsuit, which finally got to court after five years. A former UCLA basketball star, O'Bannon won a class-action lawsuit in which he sought an injunction that would allow NCAA student-athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness while still in school.
Judge Claudia Wilken ruled in favor of O'Bannon, but loosened the NCAA's rules instead of eliminating them. Starting later this year, student-athletes will be able to market themselves and earn money, but there will be a cap.
"We don't have the luxury of determining the pace of change that's going on around us," Emmert said. "We can't sit still."
