Lawyers in the landmark House v. NCAA lawsuit filed detailed settlement terms on Friday that revealed the new roster limits replacing scholarship caps across all college sports starting in the 2025-26 season.
Whereas swimming and diving programs were previously allotted 14 scholarships for women and 9.9 for men, they will soon be permitted to offer up to 30 scholarships for both men and women. Nearly 800 new scholarships are being made available total among the 40-plus NCAA sports listed in the settlement, but schools are not required to distribute scholarships to each player.
“We can work with this number,” one Power Five swim coach told SwimSwam.
Division I swimming and diving programs that do not belong to a Power Five conference can opt out of the roster limits if they choose not to share revenue with their athletes. The House v. NCAA settlement terms outlined how the NCAA and its Division I member schools will pay $277 million annually over a decade to cover the $2.78 billion in back damages to former Division I athletes dating back to 2016.
That’s on top of a 10-year revenue-sharing agreement that gives athletic departments the ability to distribute money directly to college athletes, likely at least $20 million total per school. A salary cap of sorts, that figure is expected to grow to almost $33 million by 2036.
Earlier this week, we reported how the SEC and Big Ten were discussing roster limits of 23 men and 35 women. The cost of new scholarships, revenue sharing, and backpay for lost name, image, and likeness (NIL) opportunities is expected to be upwards of $30 million a year for some top-tier programs.
Notably, it appears that the NCAA will not be the leading authority enforcing these settlement terms. Instead, the court will appoint a “special master” to resolve any disputes related to the new rules. Athletes and schools can also appeal punishments under a new arbitration process.
Judge Claudia Wilken will review the proposed settlement terms and deliver her decision by early September. In the meantime, former Arizona State swimmer Grant House and the other plaintiffs are working on a website that will allow athletes to calculate how much money they might be entitled to from the pool of damages.
NCAA Scholarship Limits Per Sport
| Sport | Gender | Old limit | New limit | Increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tumbling | Women | 14 | 55 | 41 |
| Baseball | Men | 11.7 | 34 | 22.3 |
| Basketball | Men | 13 | 15 | 2 |
| Basketball | Women | 15 | 15 | 0 |
| Beach volleyball | Women | 6 | 19 | 13 |
| Bowling | Women | 5 | 11 | 6 |
| Cross country | Men | 5 | 17 | 12 |
| Cross country | Women | 6 | 17 | 11 |
| Equestrian | Women | 15 | 50 | 35 |
| Fencing | Men | 4.5 | 24 | 19.5 |
| Fencing | Women | 5 | 24 | 19 |
| Field hockey | Women | 12 | 27 | 15 |
| Football | Men | 85 | 105 | 20 |
| Golf | Men | 4.5 | 9 | 4.5 |
| Golf | Women | 6 | 9 | 3 |
| Gym | Men | 6.3 | 20 | 13.7 |
| Gym | Women | 12 | 20 | 8 |
| Ice hockey | Men | 18 | 26 | 8 |
| Ice hockey | Women | 18 | 26 | 8 |
| Track | Men | 12.6 | 45 | 35.4 |
| Track | Women | 18 | 45 | 27 |
| Lacrosse | Men | 12.6 | 48 | 35.4 |
| Lacrosse | Women | 12 | 38 | 26 |
| Rifle | Both | 3.6 | 12 | 8.4 |
| Rowing | Women | 20 | 68 | 48 |
| Skiing | Men | 6.3 | 16 | 9.7 |
| Skiing | Women | 7 | 16 | 9 |
| Soccer | Men | 9.9 | 28 | 18.1 |
| Soccer | Women | 14 | 28 | 14 |
| Softball | Women | 12 | 25 | 13 |
| Stunt | Both | 14 | 65 | 51 |
| Swim | Men | 9.9 | 30 | 20.1 |
| Swim | Women | 14 | 30 | 16 |
| Tennis | Men | 4.5 | 10 | 5.5 |
| Tennis | Women | 8 | 10 | 2 |
| Triathlon | Women | 6.5 | 14 | 7.5 |
| Volleyball | Men | 4.5 | 18 | 13.5 |
| Volleyball | Women | 12 | 18 | 6 |
| Water polo | Men | 4.5 | 24 | 19.5 |
| Water polo | Women | 8 | 24 | 16 |
| Wrestling | Men | 9.9 | 30 | 20.1 |
| Wrestling | Women | 10 | 30 | 20 |
I suspect the cost of this may kill some swim programs.
Does this limit of 30 also include walk-ons….or is this just for scholarship athletes?
Questions haven’t been fully answered, but probably includes everyone. May be some loopholes with putting the back end of your varsity roster on a club team.
Club teams usually have student-written practices only (no coach) and very limited pool time at odd hours. And would those swimmers get admission preferences like roster swimmers do? Dorm preferences? Special tutoring and dining opportunities? It seems like a huge uphill battle to improve or even maintain compared to a roster swimmer.
For sure, but if the system is changing, obviously there could be alternative programs built.
Come on Big10 and SEC! Make the roster limit 30!
Does the monetary value of a college scholarship count in how much money an athlete is entitled to. It would seem that is already a payment made to any NCAA athlete on scholarship or do these people just want cash.
No, they’re seperate
The question is how this is executed in the Power 4 conferences. P4 athletes sign 4yr NLIs. If a program is carrying 38 swimmers how can they cut the extra 8 if the athlete is guaranteed a 4yr ride? Pay their scholarship but prohibit them from being on the team?
Can the school negotiate a payout that allows the kid to go to another school? That would be a twist!
This is unnecessary, they just need to stop counting revenue generating sports scholarships towards title 9. No one is willing to just admit that football and men’s basketball should just be a different thing entirely.
So, if a non-power five program opts out of revenue sharing, what scholarship rules are the bound by? The old ones 9.9/14?
So many things need to be clarified (and might change depending on what happens in the lawsuit over athletes being employees or not).
From the article:
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Division I swimming and diving programs that do not belong to a Power Five conference can opt out of the roster limits if they choose not to share revenue with their athletes.
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What will the definition of revenue be with regard to athletes, will it include scholarships?