The only thing that matters to the NCAA is preserving amateurism status for student athletes. If the NCAA can’t preserve the status quo in that regard, then the NCAA will not continue to exist in its current capacity.
EVERYONE involved knows the cheating and corruption that takes place. EVERYONE knows Duke/Nike pay players and their families. Coach K built Duke from the ground up with illicit payments. Its true for every school thats ever won a national championship, as well as many more. The NCAA knows this.
They’ve ignored this as much as possible because reforming it exposes themselves to scrutiny that puts the amateurism status in question.
With the FBI investigation they’re in a tough spot, I imagine. If the Feds expose these issues, but the NCAA fails to act, where does that leave them? Will their charter be called into question?
I can see a scenario where the NCAA comes down very hard on Kansas and the other 6 schools involved, and then uses these cases to argue for more power and influence over the schools. Basically, stating that amateurism was preserved by the 200+ schools, and put to risk by 5 or 10. They could then heavily punish those schools and argue for more oversight and financial control to prevent this from happening in an attempt to preserve themselves.