Most people outside of the NCAA don't know about the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics. From their website:

The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics was formed by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in October 1989 in response to more than a decade of highly visible scandals in college sports. The Commission’s initial goal was to recommend a reform agenda that emphasized academic values in an arena where commercialization of college sports often overshadowed the underlying goals of higher education. Since 1989, the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics has worked to ensure that intercollegiate athletics programs operate within the educational mission of their colleges and universities.

Their most recent report is: “Restoring the Balance: Dollars, Values, and the Future of College Sports” Reveals Huge Disparities between Spending on Athletics and Academics

From the LA Times' David Wharton: Knight Commission urges that college athletics share the wealth .

As several major conferences reshuffle their membership in search of bigger TV dollars, a blue-ribbon panel led by university presidents has called for changes in the big business of college sports.

The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics issued its report on Thursday, recommending that athletic departments share the wealth with other parts of campus and that the NCAA issue reports on how much schools are spending on their teams.

From USA Today's Jack Carey: Knight Commission: Athletics vs. academic spending too unbalanced

Calling the ever-increasing funding of college sports unsustainable, the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics issued a report Thursday that it hopes will "restore balance" between academic and athletics expenditures across the nation.

The 21-year-old reform-minded commission undertook an 18-month study of athletics finances, and its report outlines several recommendations it hopes will lead to more fiscal responsibility.

In a survey of 97 public Football Bowl Subdivision schools and the 11 conferences in the subdivision, the commission found that athletics spending between 2005 and 2008 increased at a rate that's an average of four to 11 times greater than spending on academics.

From Eamonn Brennan at ESPN's College Basketball Blog

On Thursday, the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics interrupted my ongoing World Cup-induced euphoria with a rather somber report on the state of bigtime college athletics. The report is titled "Restoring the Balance: Dollars, Values, and the Future of College Sports," which without the subhead could be anything from a book about zen meditation to a nutritional pamphlet advertising the latest diet fad.

Alas, it is neither. Instead, it's a blanket indictment of the current state of college athletics, fueled by 18 months' worth of research. And though none of the commission's findings are particularly revelatory, they are a little bit depressing:

ANd Ivan Maisel, also from the ESPN Blog: Three-point stance: Knight Commission's diminishing impact

Adam Scher Zagier from AP writes: Reformers blast runaway spending in college sports

"This report is particularly timely given the commercially driven agenda of conference realignment," said William Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland and co-chairman of the Knight panel. There is every reason to believe that the current direction of big-time college sports is leading us to even greater imbalances in the fiscal priority for athletics over academics."

The NCAA responds to the most recent report:

The NCAA and its member schools are overwhelmingly in concert with the Knight Commission. However, we feel there are some aspects of both the data and solutions advanced that require clarification and debate.

Interestingly, or ironically, enough, the economic downturn and how it's impact schools and sports has been a great "educational experience" for many.

Of course, what they do with that knowledge is yet to be seen...