An overwhelming majority of Division I athletic directors at the annual fall LEAD1 meeting on Wednesday expressed a "strong preference" to keep FBS football under the NCAA if it can be more streamlined and less bureaucratic.

Tom McMillen, the CEO and president of the organization representing the 131 athletic directors in the FBS, said there were a total of 105 ADs who participated in the closed-door discussions (about 80 in-person and the rest virtually), and that by a show of hands in the room, it was clear they prefer the NCAA continues its oversight of the most popular sport in college athletics.

"Rarely do we have such consensus on an issue," McMillen said. "It was doubly reaffirmed today that the status quo was not acceptable, and that there was a strong, very strong preference for a model in the NCAA that is extremely streamlined and much less bureaucratic. That's a lot of details to be worked out in that, but a much [more] streamlined governance within the NCAA. And if that can't be accomplished, move it to the outside."

FBS football is currently the only collegiate sport that is governed by the NCAA but runs its own national championship through the College Football Playoff. The NCAA deals with issues such as rules, officiating, concussion litigation and enforcement, but doesn't receive any money from the CFP. The idea of separating FBS football from the NCAA began in December 2020, when the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics proposed it.

The commission has continued to back its recommendation for the NCAA to "govern all other sports in a reorganized Division I governance, and schools with FBS football programs would remain part of the NCAA in all other sports except football."

The idea had gained traction, especially as college athletics has undergone sweeping changes, including name, image and likeness rights for athletes, another round of conference realignment, and the recent approval of a 12-team playoff in the CFP.

At the meeting on Wednesday, though, McMillen said outgoing NCAA chief financial officer Kathleen McNeely gave a presentation to the group that revealed the NCAA spends $65 million on various expenses such as catastrophic insurance, and administrative expenses.