The Southern Conference Earns Knight Commission C.A.R.E. Model Recognition

September 18, 2024 - Washington, D.C. - During its meeting today, the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics announced that The Southern Conference, the Big Sky Conference, and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) are the recipients of its inaugural C.A.R.E. Model Conference Grants. The grants support their commitment to the C.A.R.E. Model principles in their distribution and use of shared athletics revenues.

The Knight Commission certified The Southern Conference as one of the nation’s first C.A.R.E. Champions by fully implementing all the C.A.R.E. Model requirements, which prioritize the education and well-being of college athletes while integrating education-based principles in financial incentives and athletics spending.

The Southern Conference commissioner, Michael Cross, said "The Southern Conference is proud to be recognized by the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics as a C.A.R.E. Champion. This distinction reflects the dedication of our ten member institutions and their unwavering commitment to prioritizing the education and equitable treatment of our student-athletes. As the fourth oldest athletics conference in the country, we have always placed education first, and this recognition validates our efforts. By implementing these principles, we are enhancing the overall collegiate experience for our students while upholding our long-held SoCon values, with transparency, independent oversight, gender equity, and financial investment in student-athlete education, health, safety and success at the forefront of everything we do. Thank you to the Knight Commission for this honor and for the financial grant to support these efforts.

The C.A.R.E. Model (Connecting Athletics Revenues with the Educational Model of College Sports) was created to assist conferences and national entities in bolstering accountability and ensure that both the distribution and spending of shared athletics revenue prioritize supporting college athletes’ education, health, safety, well-being, equity, and opportunity. This holistic model supports the educational mission and includes four universal principles and requirements:

1. Transparency
2. Independent Oversight
3. Incentives for Core Values of Education, Gender Equity, and Opportunity
4. Financial Responsibility for Education, Health, Safety, and Well-Being

The SoCon can use its $25,000 C.A.R.E. Model Conference Grant to implement the principles and educate institutional leaders, staff, college athletes, and other stakeholders about how this new framework positively impacts student-athletes’ experiences.

As a C.A.R.E. Champion, The Southern Conference is leading the way for other Division I leagues in promoting gender equity. To earn this distinction, a conference must financially reward team success, reflected in postseason performance, equally between men and women. C.A.R.E. Champions will reward March Madness victories by women’s basketball teams at a dollar level equal to that of their men’s teams.

Knight Commission Co-Chair Len Elmore said, “The MAAC and The Southern Conference are to be commended for their equitable performance incentive policies. It is hard to believe that in 2024 providing equal performance incentives to teams of male and female athletes in the same sport is a distinguishing characteristic among Division I conferences, but these two value the success of their women’s teams just as much as their men’s.

“Congratulations are due to the Big Sky Conference, MAAC, and The Southern Conference for their demonstrated commitment to the educational mission of college sports,” said Knight Commission Co-Chair Pamela Bernard, “The C.A.R.E. Champion distinction is critically important for conferences and institutions that seek to operate under a framework that truly prioritizes the educational mission of college sports. Unfortunately, in Division I sports, too many conferences and institutions aspire to run their athletic programs by those core principles but fail to prioritize or support them financially in their policies and financial framework.”

About the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics

The Knight Commission, founded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in 1989, is an independent group that leads transformational change to prioritize college athletes’ education, health, safety, and success. Knight Foundation has been its sole funder to ensure its independence. For more information about the Commission’s impact, recommendations, and reports, visit knightcommission.org.

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

Knight Foundation is a national foundation with strong local roots. We invest in journalism, in the arts and in the success of cities where brothers John S. and James L. Knight once published newspapers. Our goal is to foster informed and engaged communities, which we believe are essential for a healthy democracy. For more, visit kf.org