NCAA’s board of directors to vote Tuesday on stronger enforcement rules

Rule-breakers are about to find out just how tough the NCAA can be.

After debating changes for more than a year, the board of directors is poised to vote Tuesday on an enforcement proposal that would streamline the infractions process, impose harsher sanctions on violators and expand the current two-tiered penalty structure to four.

The details were first released in August when the board endorsed a proposal that has remained essentially unchanged.

NCAA President Mark Emmert has been pushing for the reforms since a spate of scandals rocked college sports last year. At a presidential retreat in August 2011, Emmert called on school officials to help assure coaches and athletic departments would no longer make ethical decisions based on a risk-reward analysis.

The vote Tuesday in Indianapolis is the next step.

“I’m extremely pleased with the speed with which we’ve been able to make progress,” Emmert told the Associated Press before the meeting. “We made our first set of reforms around academic expectations and standards in pretty much record time. We will vote [Tuesday] on the second big piece.”

If the proposal is approved Tuesday, as expected, the changes would be sweeping.

Schools and coaches would not only have to contend with an infractions hearing but may have to deal with accusations of aggravating circumstances, too.

Violators found in violation of a “serious breach of conduct” with aggravating circumstances could face postseason bans of two to four years and fines of millions of dollars from specific events or gross revenue generated by the sport during years in which sanctions occurred — just like Penn State earlier this year.

In the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal, the NCAA banned the Nittany Lions’ football program from postseason play until after the 2016 season and levied a $60-million fine on the school.

Coaches, too, will be held more accountable.

Under the new structure, they would be presumed responsible for violations committed by their staffs unless they could prove they were unaware of it. Those who cannot could be suspended from 10% of the season to a full season.

That’s not all.

Penalties would be meted out more quickly.

The proposal calls for expanding the infractions committee membership from 10 to as much as 24, serving in a rotation to speed up the hearing process.

Any program committing infractions following Tuesday’s meeting would be subjected to the new guidelines immediately.

Etc.

Chris McGowan, chief operating officer of AEG Sports, will leave the parent company of the Kings and Galaxy to become president and chief executive officer of the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers. McGowan began his career with the Kings as an account executive in their ticket sales department in 1996. In his new job he will manage all business operations of the Trail Blazers and their arena, the Rose Garden.

— Helene Elliott

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Tony George was not trying to regain control of IndyCar for himself in his recent attempt to purchase the series, but rather bring in a new management team to replace the current board of directors, according to a copy of his proposal obtained by the Associated Press.

George’s five-page proposal was made Oct. 5 to the Hulman & Co. board of directors. In it, the group ICS Acquisition called for a management team to take over IndyCar’s operations and separate the series from Indianapolis Motor Speedway. A sanctioning agreement would be created with IMS to run the Indianapolis 500, the series’ signature event.

George would only have been a board member in the proposal that expired Oct. 15, and offered $5 million cash and proof of $25 million in reserves for stabilization of the series, according to the document, which was obtained from a person familiar with the situation on condition of anonymity because the details have not been publicly disclosed.

The offer was not considered and George resigned from the board on Oct. 19 citing a conflict of interest in holding a seat while trying to reacquire the series he founded in 1996.

IndyCar is owned by the Hulman-George family, and its portfolio is managed by the Hulman & Co. board of directors. That board has repeated several times in the last month that the series is not for sale.

IndyCar itself is managed by the 11-member Indianapolis Motor Speedway board of directors, which voted in an emergency session Sunday night to have Chief Executive Randy Bernard step down. Owner Roger Penske said the move showed the board “continues to show poor judgment,” and fans have been outspoken through social media in their outrage of the firing.

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Novak Djokovic has clinched the year-end No. 1 ranking in men’s tennis. Djokovic lost the top spot to Roger Federer in July but will return to No. 1 next week.

The ATP says Federer will drop points from his 2011 title wins at the Swiss Indoors and Paris Masters. He lost in the Swiss Indoors final Sunday to Juan Martin del Potro, and then pulled out of next week’s Paris tournament.

The ATP says Federer will not be able to earn enough points to finish the year ahead of Djokovic.

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Georgia Tech Athletic Director Dan Radakovich was hired by Clemson to the same position.

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Time Warner Cable SportsNet announced a long-term agreement with the West Coast Conference to televise a minimum of 15 men’s basketball games this season, as well as other sporting events throughout Southern California.