Over the past three months, a growing number of universities have added or dropped entire sports programs on the eve of dramatic changes coming to college athletics under the $2.8 billion NCAA settlement.
UTEP dropped women’s tennis, Cal Poly discontinued swimming and diving, Marquette added women’s swimming and Grand Canyon shuttered a historically dominant men’s volleyball program. It was a dizzying set of decisions that appears to offer no pattern except one: Every school is facing a choice on which programs to carry forward once the money really starts flowing.
While top-tier athletes in high-revenue sports like football and basketball can look forward to robust compensation from their university for the use of their name, image and likeness, there is widespread uncertainty for athletes in the so-called non-revenue sports where tens of thousands of athletes compete largely under the radar.
For them, harsh cuts are a terrifying new reality as athletic departments weigh more than ever before which sports make the most sense to support financially; each school will be able to share as much as $20.5 million with athletes next year but top performers and revenue draws in the big sports will demand the most to keep them out of the transfer portal.
Under-the-radar sports programs are expected to take the back seat at many schools.
Patrick Rishe, executive director of the sports business program at Washington University, said college athletics is only at the beginning of a slew of decisions schools will have to make as a result of the settlement.
“There is going to be more competitive pressure on all universities to step up or else they’ll fall behind,” Rishe said. “So when you’re faced with that challenge, especially at the mid-majors or smaller Division I…
Source link : https://www.nbcsports.com/ncaa/news/universities-cutting-sports-others-adding-ahead-of-2-8-billion-ncaa-antitrust-settlement
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Publish date : 2025-05-18 19:31:00
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