Autonomy set to benefit athletes

— -- NEW YORK -- The NCAA Board of Governors' vote to grant autonomy Thursday to the five biggest revenue-producing FBS conferences and  Notre Dame should be remembered as a historic day in intercollegiate athletics. On this day, the NCAA voted that the strong shall inherit the earth.

Autonomy is a deftly chosen word. It means self-rule, and if you hear it and think of the downtrodden rising to smite their oppressors, then the spin of the Mike Slives of the world has achieved its goal. In fact, this is the haves saying to the have-nots, "Enough already."

The formal approval of autonomy might have taken place Thursday, but the big schools achieved autonomy the minute they asked for it. As Slive, the Southeastern Conference commissioner, said last month, "If we do not achieve a positive outcome under the existing big tent of Division I, we will need to consider the establishment of a venue with similar conferences and institutions where we can enact the desired changes in the best interests of our student-athletes."

In other words, if you don't grant us autonomy, we will establish autonomy.

It is entirely possible that the rest of Division I could override the vote of the board, but that would be a gesture of pride, not brains.

In so many ways, the 65 newly autonomous schools have for decades done things that their thinner-walleted Division I colleagues cannot. They expanded their stadiums with luxury boxes and erected battleship-sized video screens. They built practice facilities that would put NFL teams to shame. They agreed to pay coaches salaries that should put the universities to shame. None of these expenditures came under the expansive reach of the NCAA Manual.

But benefits for the student-athletes have always been the subject of legislation. 

Autonomy will come with its own set of issues. Because the wealthiest schools are free to act upon their own interests, the rich will likely get richer. But it's also a good bet that student-athletes will receive more benefits. That, at the end of the day, is the point.