NCAA President proposes giving D1 schools ability to pay athletes

NCAA President Charlie Baker sent out a ground-breaking proposal Tuesday that would allow certain Division 1 schools to pay student-athletes for the first time.

Under the proposal, schools would be allowed to enter lucrative name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals with athletes.

They'd also be required to invest a minimum of $30,000 per athlete each year into a trust fund for at least half of their athletes.

That investment would have to adhere to Title IX, meaning equal distribution for men and women.

"That is a big- a very strong statement about the value of women athletes and women's sports that will trickle down all the way from the colleges, all the way to their five-year-old girls starting to play soccer, or that 12-year-old girl playing volleyball, or that 15-year-old girl playing basketball, that they will understand that there is value in what they're doing," said ABC News contributor and USA Today columnist Christine Brennan.

Both Arizona State University and the University of Arizona could be part of this proposal as NCAA schools.

The idea has already seemed to catch on. A top official at the Ohio State University said he's "100% supportive."

What remains to be seen, though, is the potential impact the proposal would have on smaller schools that may not have the financial capacity to participate.

"Over the next few weeks and months, every university will go back - the president, their athletic director - and they'll start to evaluate what they can and cannot do, not only what they have financially, but also what ethically they want to do," said Brennan.

Baker has not elaborated on a time frame for moving forward with his proposal.

In the end, NCAA schools would have to approve any changes.

ABC15 reached out to ASU and UArizona for a comment on the proposal, as well as how the schools plan to move forward but has not yet heard back.