Big NCAA changes

No One Cares · July 26, 2024, 06:44:14 PM

Wrestling now has a roster cap of 30.

Scholarship limit goes from 9.9 to 30.

Incredibly significant.

https://sports.yahoo.com/new-college-sports-roster-limits-revealed-as-house-settlement-expands-scholarship-numbers-210542040.html

vsmf2010 · July 27, 2024, 10:11:26 AM

Hard to see how this will be good for non-revenue sports. Much more potential cost with no new mechanism for offsetting the cost. Football is not going anywhere so I could definitely see schools cutting sports and when they start looking for sports to cut wrestling is generally in that discussion.

This of course compounded with the obvious issue with the increase of the gap between the top few teams and the rest. If PSU, Iowa or OK St decide they want 20 to 30 wrestlers on scholarship it will be even easier to stock pile the talent.

MNbadger · July 27, 2024, 08:41:18 PM

Yep.

Ledger · July 28, 2024, 07:40:20 AM

The scholarships for wrestling more than tripled. The largest percentage increase of any sport. This highlights how ridiculous the 9.9 scholarships limit was.

npope · July 28, 2024, 05:24:50 PM

Quote from: Ledger on July 28, 2024, 07:40:20 AMThe scholarships for wrestling more than tripled. The largest percentage increase of any sport. This highlights how ridiculous the 9.9 scholarships limit was.

But if wrestling is a non-revenue producing sport, why should the UW give wrestling any scholarships to allocate, much less 9.9...or now 30?

PAUL · July 28, 2024, 07:21:05 PM

I hope I'm wrong, but this seems like just one more reason to be concerned for the long-term viability of wrestling at many schools, UW among them. At some point AD's might just be tempted to say "screw it" and pull the plug on wrestling programs all across the country.

DocWrestling · August 22, 2024, 11:43:43 AM

The beginning of the end. Ohio St has more money than 98% of schools and they are talking about slashing budgets of non-revenue/olympic sports.

https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/education/2024/08/21/ohio-state-ad-ross-bjork-nil-d1-sports-teams-big-ten/74893167007/

The Big Ten is the premiere wrestling conference. It has 18 schools. Will they even have 8 wrestling teams total in 5 years? What does that say about where wrestling is not as popular. A lot fewer high school wrestlers are going to have scholarship opportunities in the future

hornbuckleb · August 22, 2024, 01:21:22 PM

Quote from: DocWrestling on August 22, 2024, 11:43:43 AMThe beginning of the end. Ohio St has more money than 98% of schools and they are talking about slashing budgets of non-revenue/olympic sports.

https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/education/2024/08/21/ohio-state-ad-ross-bjork-nil-d1-sports-teams-big-ten/74893167007/

The Big Ten is the premiere wrestling conference. It has 18 schools. Will they even have 8 wrestling teams total in 5 years? What does that say about where wrestling is not as popular. A lot fewer high school wrestlers are going to have scholarship opportunities in the future

Programs I could see dropping in the Big 10

Illinois
Indiana
Michigan State
Maryland
Northwestern
Wisconsin

DocWrestling · August 22, 2024, 03:19:03 PM

I think we could be surprised but a school like Minnesota will be right there looking at dropping. They have a lot less money than other schools on your list and this is all about money rather than tradition. Minnesota has less money than most Big Ten schools and the groundswell is ticked they are not good in football and basketball so money they have is going to go to those sports.

Same with Rutgers

Nebraska is going to find it tough also to stay relevant.

Once the dominos start it will happen fast.

First sports to disappear will be sports like swimming that cost a lot in facilities or tennis. Then track and baseball at all the other schools. Wrestling's saving grace might be that they are behind all those others on the chopping block because they are not an expensive sport

vsmf2010 · August 23, 2024, 11:25:28 AM

Will wrestling just become more of a club sport for many of these D1 schools without scholarships and just compete regionally to limit travel costs? Would also completely eliminate the need for recruiting costs.

MNbadger · August 24, 2024, 09:52:24 PM

Football
There is a lot of discussion about football keeping athletic departments alive. Yes, football is one of only two sports (men's basketball being the other) that ANY university reported as being profitable. At the same time, however, only 57% of football programs reported being profitable. Thus the other 43% of football programs are still part of the problem.

DocWrestling · August 25, 2024, 08:41:09 AM

That is correct but those schools will be outside the 4 major conferences. First the olympic sports will be cut off. Then a second lower tier D1 division will be created for football and basketball for those schools that are not part of the four major conferences and thus do not have access to the TV money. Alumni will never allow non-profitable football and basketball programs to be cut. Plus the schools in the major 4 conferences will not want to share any money with them from the NCAA tournament or playoff. When Liberty qualifies for the football playoff this year you will have renewed call to get rid of those teams as soon as possible as next step.

MNbadger · August 25, 2024, 11:02:16 AM

Quote from: DocWrestling on August 25, 2024, 08:41:09 AMThat is correct but those schools will be outside the 4 major conferences. First the olympic sports will be cut off. Then a second lower tier D1 division will be created for football and basketball for those schools that are not part of the four major conferences and thus do not have access to the TV money. Alumni will never allow non-profitable football and basketball programs to be cut. Plus the schools in the major 4 conferences will not want to share any money with them from the NCAA tournament or playoff. When Liberty qualifies for the football playoff this year you will have renewed call to get rid of those teams as soon as possible as next step.

Yep.

Gutwrench · September 09, 2024, 01:08:21 PM

I always thought 9.9 was ridiculous and needed to be increased, but to 30?? I could see 15 or even 20, but 30 seems like way too much. I suppose it would bring in more kids to the room, which could help with competition and depth. However I agree that at some point the school is going to look at the budget and say why am I allocating $500k each year in scholarship money for no ROI?

Can this also be connected back to NIL and the NCAA trying to come up with some solution to fix that mess?

Kirk Nelson · September 09, 2024, 02:42:27 PM

Quote from: Gutwrench on September 09, 2024, 01:08:21 PMI always thought 9.9 was ridiculous and needed to be increased, but to 30?? I could see 15 or even 20, but 30 seems like way too much. I suppose it would bring in more kids to the room, which could help with competition and depth. However I agree that at some point the school is going to look at the budget and say why am I allocating $500k each year in scholarship money for no ROI?

Can this also be connected back to NIL and the NCAA trying to come up with some solution to fix that mess?

20 seems like the right number. Everyone getting a full ride seems like an unusual change.