The SEC Has Been Granted The Right To Make Their Own Rules

In an attempt to keep some of big conferences from breaking away, the NCAA will be giving 5 conferences (SEC, ACC, BIG 10, BIG XII, PAC-12) the right to rule themselves. With the SEC being one of those conferences, it will give SEC commissioner Mike Slive and company, the power to start paying players and giving more to recruits, Slive announced today that this this is an opportunity for historic change in college athletics. …

Under the  new legislative autonomy. , the SEC will clear the way for sports powerhouses like Alabama and Georgia to pay their athletes a few thousand dollars more than what the current scholarship rules allow, loosen restrictions against agents and advisers, and revamp recruiting rules to ease contact with top prospects. The top 64 schools in the richest five leagues (the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, SEC and Pac-12) plus Notre Dame can submit their own legislation by Oct. 1 and have it enacted at the January 2015 NCAA convention in Washington, D.C. Several presidents said Thursday that the full cost-of-attendance stipends, which could be worth between $2,000 and $5,000 per player, likely would be the first item taken up. The NCAA approved those stipends three years ago, but legislation was halted when the full membership voted it down. Four-year scholarship guarantees are expected to be on the early agenda, as well.