NIL NETWORK INSIGHTRecap: NCAA President Mark Emmert received unanimous approval by the board of governors to extend his contract through 2025, despite concerns from athletic directors around the country. Observations: This demonstrates a huge disconnect between the board of governors and the people they are meant to serve – the athletic directors, coaches, and athletes. With national attention drawn towards the blunders surrounding March Madness (#NotNCAAProperty, gender inequalities), this unanimous vote really shows that none of it matters. If the NCAA is going to survive, it needs more proactive leadership as opposed to the reactive leadership that has led to dozens of lawsuits over the past decade. NCAA president Mark Emmert has received a contract extension through 2025, the association’s board of governors announced Tuesday.Emmert, who has served as NCAA president since November 2010, had been under contract through October 2023 with an option through 2024. The NCAA announced the extension within a news release that included other action items from the board, including a commitment to modernize rules around name, image and likeness (NIL).Emmert’s extension received unanimous approval from the board.In March, Georgetown president Jack DeGioia, the chair of the NCAA’s board of governors, gave Emmert a vote of confidence amid mounting criticism about inequities during the men’s and women’s Division I basketball tournaments. Several commissioners and athletic directors voiced concerns about Emmert’s leadership in media reports in late March and early April.Emmert, in a letter to staff, acknowledged that “a number of balls were dropped” at the NCAA women’s basketball tournament in San Antonio and that a full review would be conducted.“I think it would be fair to say that Mark took this very, very seriously and all of my conversations with him — we have had several over the last 10 days — at no point did I ever have the sense that he wasn’t engaging this with the greatest seriousness possible,” DeGioia told The Associated Press in late March.Emmert has also been facing scrutiny and political pressure for the NCAA’s inability to move forward with proposed reforms to its rules prohibiting athletes from earning money off their NIL.READ MORE ON ESPN
