More universities are reacting to the expected expense increases of the House v. NCAA settlement.
In a message to Wisconsin Athletics stakeholders, athletic director Chris McIntosh reassured that his department was committed to continued support of all sports.
“Our plan is to maintain our broad-based approach to supporting 23 sports, though the level of support we’re able to offer each program will need to change,” McIntosh said.
Though not a concrete promise, this rhetoric might come as reassurance to fans of swimming and other non-revenue sports. Fans and coaches of these sports have expressed concerns that athletic departments would balance the expenses of athlete payback and revenue sharing by cutting non-revenue sports.
One Power 4 head coach told SwimSwam that the appetite to cut sports isn’t there because a lot of ADs who cut sports during COVID wound up losing their jobs.
Even if they’re not cut, some sports might have to change the way they operate. In August, Ohio State’s athletic director said that some sports may begin to “act like a club sport”.
Other schools have been considering private equity as a way to raise capital and improve cost efficiency in athletics. NCAA president Charlie Baker addressed this earlier this week at the Axios BFD summit.
“One of the things I think the settlement will do – because of the 22% of the ticket revenue, media rights revenue and sponsorship revenue will be considered part of what the schools are spending on their student-athletes’ NIL – I think schools are going to need to bring people into their athletic departments who are good at figuring this sort of thing out,” Baker said.
Some schools have been passing the anticipated expenses down to athletics students and fans. Last Friday, Clemson University’s Board of Trustees approved a semesterly $150 athletic fee for every student enrolled at the university, effective fall 2025.
I’d like to keep to delivering the number one student experience,” Clemson Athletic Director Graham Neff told the board. He also reminded that football games are free to students, and that every other Division 1 school in South Carolina already charges a sport fee.
Though Neff didn’t explicitly mention House, passing anticipated expenses to fans seems to be an emerging trend. Last month, the University of Tennessee approved a “talent fee” on football tickets to support revenue sharing and back payment of athletes.
Great news- let’s hope it’s not lip service and they put their money where their mouth is
Bring Back Men’s Swimming and Diving at IOWA! The Athletic Department (Gary Barta & Board of Regents) offered the excuse of “no $$ for Swimming” is a complete lie and total fabrication!
Beautiful, relatively new (2010), bajillion-dollar facility — Barta tried to cut both men and women. It took a lawsuit and court injunction to force him to reinstate women. Barta personally and the university generally were sued several times for other various unseemly actions, and lost them all in court. $11M in settlements paid out during his tenure.
Barta is gone now thankfully, but Iowa does not have a good track record supporting anything other than football, wrestling, and hoops.
One intersting line from Ross Dellenger’s Yahoo Sports article about the House vs. NCAA – “Plaintiff attorneys are “working” with the NCAA and power leagues for solutions, Berman said, including a transitional period in which those currently on a roster are grandfathered into the system.”
🤔 If potential solutions aren’t actually shared with ADs and Coaches, is it really happening?
The idea of passing the coats to students and fans at schools where they make $90+ million per year just from their TV contract is absurd. How about you update fancy locker rooms slightly less often, ADs fly private or first class less, and put that money in the hands of student athletes. There is money to pay the revenue sports without it coming from Olympic sports and student fees.
There are other places that don’t have that kind of revenue that will need to turn over every couch cushion to find $22 million, but don’t let a big ten school with just. 23 sports or an SEC school cry poor.
‘I think schools are going to need to bring people into their athletic departments who are good at figuring this sort of thing out,” Baker said.’
We’re just making more jobs for wealthy money guys? Nightmare fuel.
Extrapolating out, no cutting sports, but the Olympic sports will have fewer scholarships and travel trips… Is it possible that in a few years that except for the top 10 swim programs in the country the next best programs will be mid-majors that more fully fund their swim programs because they don’t have football???
I would think that mid-major D1’s would be more likely to cut olympic sports before power 4 schools. A lot more likely that D2 and D3 sees more growth.
Agreed, except maybe the mid majors that don’t have football. Those programs may be able to survive
Kevdawg nails it.
Olympic sports will become largely unfunded, with the exception of minimal staff and facilities. Like Boston College, no dough for swimming and diving.