Big Ten explores self-governance as College Sports Commission sputters, Congress action stalls

As frustration grows with stalled federal action and a shaky NIL enforcement system, Big Ten leaders are exploring a future where the conference sets and polices its own rules

Brandon Marcello

May 19, 2026

11:17 pm ET

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8 min read

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RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. -- Ross Bjork is done waiting.

The Ohio State athletic director stood outside the Big Ten's spring meetings this week and laid out, plainly, where he believes his conference — the biggest and richest in college sports — is headed if Washington, D.C. keeps stalling and the College Sports Commission continues to sputter.

"We cannot govern nationally right now," Bjork said. "There are too many extenuating forces. So, can we have a subset at our conference, but we're still going to play each other?"

Big Ten weighs governing itself as national model falters

No one is shying away from the conversation in the Big Ten. At a luxury resort tucked into the cliffs along the Pacific Coast, conference officials spent three days discussing a future in which the Big Ten governs revenue-sharing deals itself, setting its own rules built on the foundation of a legally defensible framework.

This contingency plan – or idea – will grow legs if the CSC's slowly evolving enforcement arm needs a jolt and the federal help they have sought in Congress falls through in the near future.

Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti did not discount the idea of the conference looking inward to police itself, but added a fundamental change in enforcement isn't contingent on what happens in Congress.

"I would tie it to, can we see progress in the CSC?" he said Tuesday. "Can we make the change we think to adjust it? Can you protect that with help from Washington? That's one piece of it."

Frustration with NIL enforcement, House settlement reaches breaking point

The growing pains of the CSC, the enforcement arm that the power conferences themselves created out of the multibillion-dollar House v. NCAA settlement last July, have been apparent. Its NIL clearinghouse was supposed to clear or reject third-party deals within 24 to 48 hours, but only 45% of deals have been resolved within that window. Bjork, who served on the House Implementation Committee, said the system is jammed but salvageable if the conferences can convince the plaintiffs in the House case to change the language in the deal.

He and other athletic directors believe the system is too restrictive on players by limiting third-party deals with multimedia rights companies. Earlier this month, an arbitrator held up the CSC's decision to deny 18 NIL deals between Nebraska football players and Playfly Sports, which is partnered with Nebraska's athletics department, because the CSC labeled it as an "associated entity." In an unrelated case, House plaintiffs are set to question the CSC's definition of an "associated entity" in a California courtroom in June.

Big Ten leaders also believe the revenue-sharing cap needs to be tweaked, Bjork said.

Revenue-sharing overhaul could widen gap

One concept on the table: scrap the House settlement's cap structure, built on the average revenue of all 68 power-conference athletic departments, and instead let each league build its cap based solely on its own conference's average revenue. Schools are currently allowed to distribute up to 22% of the average revenue among schools in the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC, which amounted to $20.5 million for the 2025-26 academic year.

"We went down this path because we created this fraudulent market to be able to compensate our athletes," Washington athletic director Pat Chun said. "You agreed to these aspects of the settlement, which basically put a system in place to measure these fraudulent deals. And lo and behold, go figure out that this whole thing just doesn't work."

Such a change would almost certainly hand the SEC and Big Ten higher caps than the ACC and Big 12. More than 75% of the value of third-party deals submitted to the CSC this year has come from the Big Ten and the SEC.

Such a change on the conference level would lead to another seismic change among competitive programs in the power conferences, but Bjork didn't seem apologetic.

"If it's percentage based off revenue, then drive more revenue," Bjork said. "And that can lift your percentage."

The other power leagues are unlikely to sign off, at least immediately, and any changes would likely require unanimous agreement among the five conferences named in the House settlement. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark told Yahoo Sports this week he opposes immediate changes to the settlement without a long-term plan for the CSC.

There is hope that the CSC can be fixed, even though most schools have yet to sign the CSC's participation agreement. The CSC continues to operate without those signatures, and Petitti believes that it can continue.

"I just want to