You are missing the fundamental change - "years ago" is exactly the paradigm they are seeking to blow up.
What should scare the hell out of you is the fact that the P5 conferences are listed by name and that the term for what they are seeking is 'autonomy'. They are seeking to make rules that apply only to them - we're not included. Make no assumption that we'll somehow be able to play by their rules while still being governed by the NCAA in the same fashion that they're governing the smaller schools.
We're hoping for inclusion in a document that stresses exclusion - a happy ending is not assured.
Did you forget about this?
http://the-boneyard.com/threads/aac-supports-cost-of-attendance.47106/
I agree that the big issue here is the single word "autonomy". The proposed areas of autonomy are pretty much nothing unusual. It's the decision making process of the NCAA that's the real concern. The decision making structure of the NCAA as it stands right now, with a certain Mark Emmert sitting in the president's chair, is what concerns me most right now. My gut tells me, that division 1 athletics, the majority of programs, if it were to be a true majority rule, would NOT favor the "autonomy" clause involved in this proposal, but would probably by likely to adopt a structure where the five conferences listed were allowed to operate in their own new "division" which was discussed at length in the fall, but did not make it into the proposal.
(not a lot of info out there either, when you dig to find out who the primary drivers behind this proposal are either......that would be a good thing to find out for a motivated investigative reporter....no secret that the leadership of the Big 6 minus the Big East are involved - but specifically.....names....who's pushing it.....)
Why did the division 4, whatever not make it to proposal? look at what was in that November boneyard post. THe people that are driving this thing - the governance restructure - the LAST thing they would want - the leardership of the 5 chosen tribes - is for the entire NCAA legislative body to adopt a new division. WHY? Because if they did form a new division, any conference that met the definied criteria would HAVE to be included. The chosen 5 tribes by ESPN are not willingly creating a division that they are going to have to open up to the others. So - you get this "autonomy" in decision making proposal.
It's clear that that AAC was well aware of the content of this proposal in November, and essentially, is prepared to conduct business in alignment with these proposals. It's clear that division 1 in general knew this was coming months ago, the only question now is the decision making process.
I actually don't have a problem with anything suggested in the proposal, other than the "autonomy" clause. I think that if Emmert allows this "autonomy" clause to be implemented, it will be the first step in the breakup of the entire NCAA. Why the hell should two groups of 60+ higher education institutions participate together in an organization, when one group has complete control in decision making processes in a subject matter that both participate in?
Wouldn't surprise me in the least, if when we look back on all this in years to come, that Emmert's term as the NCAA president, turns out to be the period of time when the NCAA , the great thing that was the NCAA - fell apart and was ruined.