Revenue sharing in college sports...

[ptrich]

As I post this, there are 2,274 players in the portal and climbing. Some of them are looking for more money and it will be interesting to see how much money will be allocated for IU's baseball program when revenue sharing begins on July 1, 2025, and they probably won't release those numbers. Here's where things stand in that area as a judge has things in limbo right now:

"The terms of the landmark House v. NCAA settlement are supposed to take effect on July 1. The settlement would allow revenue sharing with players for the first time in NCAA history, create new scrutiny for NIL booster and collective deals, and impose roster limits—potentially changing the entire landscape of Division I college sports."

"The problem: Less than a month before the terms would begin, Northern California District Court judge Claudia Wilken still hasn’t issued a final ruling on whether the settlement will be approved. As a result, an entire industry—including players—have no idea how next year will look."

As far as NIL deals right now, I saw a post, and I don't know if it's correct or not, that Oregon had $2 million in NIL money earmarked for their baseball team. If correct, I assume much of that came from Phil Knight, but who knows. There needs to be some transparency in this area, but thanks to the NCAA being totally unprepared when the courts opened the floodgates in that area, things are a real mess right now with no parameters in effect.

 

[kraft cheese+macaroni]

As I post this, there are 2,274 players in the portal and climbing. Some of them are looking for more money and it will be interesting to see how much money will be allocated for IU's baseball program when revenue sharing begins on July 1, 2025, and they probably won't release those numbers. Here's where things stand in that area as a judge has things in limbo right now:

"The terms of the landmark House v. NCAA settlement are supposed to take effect on July 1. The settlement would allow revenue sharing with players for the first time in NCAA history, create new scrutiny for NIL booster and collective deals, and impose roster limits—potentially changing the entire landscape of Division I college sports."

"The problem: Less than a month before the terms would begin, Northern California District Court judge Claudia Wilken still hasn’t issued a final ruling on whether the settlement will be approved. As a result, an entire industry—including players—have no idea how next year will look."

As far as NIL deals right now, I saw a post, and I don't know if it's correct or not, that Oregon had $2 million in NIL money earmarked for their baseball team. If correct, I assume much of that came from Phil Knight, but who knows. There needs to be some transparency in this area, but thanks to the NCAA being totally unprepared when the courts opened the floodgates in that area, things are a real mess right now with no parameters in effect.

Heard today Murray State had $1.1M. I don't trust any NIL estimates though.

 

[ptrich]

Heard today Murray State had $1.1M. I don't trust any NIL estimates though.

Yes. It's all hearsay and we all know how things morph as information gets passed along.

 

[ptrich]

The settlement has been approved by the judge. Here is how d1baseball.com's Kendall Rogers sees the settlement:

Let’s get into the nitty gritty of what this means for college baseball:

Here’s everything college baseball coaches, players and fans need to know:

• The House Settlement only applies to athletics departments that have opted into the settlement. That list of schools includes more than 250 institutions, and every institution from the power conferences.

• College baseball programs will have an official roster size of 34 players, and that 34-man roster must be declared by December 1, 2025 for the 2026 season. That means the official roster size of a college baseball team will decrease from 40 to 34 players beginning in ’26. That roster size does not include players considered to be ‘grandfathered’ into the roster.

• I checked with several sources in the power conferences, and most power leagues are expected to stick with a 30-man roster for conference games. This standard is not likely to deviate much in the mid-major or low-major conferences.

• College baseball players who were designated as players who would’ve been cut because of the new rules are ‘grandfathered’ into the existing roster, and that would carry over to another program should they hit the transfer portal. It would also apply for the duration of their college athletic tenure. From already talking to college baseball coaches and university administrators tonight, more guidance is needed on this particular issue. Players who receive this ‘designation’ will not count toward the 34-man roster unless the below occurs …

• Sources close to at least two power conferences told D1Baseball late Friday night that they expect their leagues to implement rules that if you give one of those ‘designated’ players revenue share or a portion of a scholarship, they would count toward your 34-man roster. This would eliminate the ability for specific programs to stockpile players. This is still an ongoing discussion, however, with resolution … yet. It would be possible for these designated players to pay their way through school.

• Walk-ons that you have within your program will count against your 34-man roster. Anyone who practices/competes for your team, or is on scholarship, counts against your 34-man roster.

• College baseball programs have the ability to offer up to 34 full scholarships to all 34 players on their roster. Most power conferences are allowing their member institutions to do whatever they want in terms of scholarships — not setting conference-wide restrictions. Expect the scholarship totals to vary. For instance, a vast majority of the SEC, ACC and Big 12 will be at 25-34 full scholarships from the start, while at least 2-3 programs in the Big Ten have told D1Baseball that they are either staying at 11.7 for the time being, or getting a gradual increase over the next couple of years. That’s a fascinating contrast to watch moving forward.

• Any NIL deal not signed by midnight on Friday, June 6, will be subject to final approval by the NIL Clearinghouse. Furthermore, any pre-existing NIL deal that is not fully paid by July 1, 2025, will be subject to approval by the NIL Clearinghouse. So, let’s say a player has only been paid 75% of their NIL deal by July 1. The remaining funds owed to that student athlete would then go through the NIL Clearinghouse. At least one source close to a prominent collective in the SEC told me on Friday night that most of his student-athlete’s deals were signed, sealed and delivered early in the evening on Friday. There will definitely be a mad dash to that midnight deadline.

• Any NIL deal worth $600 or more must be approved by the NIL Clearinghouse.

• There will be a significant distinction between corporate/company-specific NIL dollars and the system that is currently in place, which is essentially boosters funneling money through collectives to student athletes for the most part. The more legitimate — i.e., the more these deals involve actual companies — the more likely they are to be approved by the NIL Clearinghouse.

• Ultimately, Friday’s approval of the House Settlement is outstanding news … for the short term. Several sources close to the situation fully expect this to be challenged in the courts, and thus, all or some components of the Settlement could potentially be thrown out. There will be plenty of twists and turns over the next few weeks and months

 

[kraft cheese+macaroni]

The settlement has been approved by the judge. Here is how d1baseball.com's Kendall Rogers sees the settlement:

Let’s get into the nitty gritty of what this means for college baseball:

Here’s everything college baseball coaches, players and fans need to know:

• The House Settlement only applies to athletics departments that have opted into the settlement. That list of schools includes more than 250 institutions, and every institution from the power conferences.

• College baseball programs will have an official roster size of 34 players, and that 34-man roster must be declared by December 1, 2025 for the 2026 season. That means the official roster size of a college baseball team will decrease from 40 to 34 players beginning in ’26. That roster size does not include players considered to be ‘grandfathered’ into the roster.

• I checked with several sources in the power conferences, and most power leagues are expected to stick with a 30-man roster for conference games. This standard is not likely to deviate much in the mid-major or low-major conferences.

• College baseball players who were designated as players who would’ve been cut because of the new rules are ‘grandfathered’ into the existing roster, and that would carry over to another program should they hit the transfer portal. It would also apply for the duration of their college athletic tenure. From already talking to college baseball coaches and university administrators tonight, more guidance is needed on this particular issue. Players who receive this ‘designation’ will not count toward the 34-man roster unless the below occurs …

• Sources close to at least two power conferences told D1Baseball late Friday night that they expect their leagues to implement rules that if you give one of those ‘designated’ players revenue share or a portion of a scholarship, they would count toward your 34-man roster. This would eliminate the ability for specific programs to stockpile players. This is still an ongoing discussion, however, with resolution … yet. It would be possible for these designated players to pay their way through school.

• Walk-ons that you have within your program will count against your 34-man roster. Anyone who practices/competes for your team, or is on scholarship, counts against your 34-man roster.

• College baseball programs have the ability to offer up to 34 full scholarships to all 34 players on their roster. Most power conferences are allowing their member institutions to do whatever they want in terms of scholarships — not setting conference-wide restrictions. Expect the scholarship totals to vary. For instance, a vast majority of the SEC, ACC and Big 12 will be at 25-34 full scholarships from the start, while at least 2-3 programs in the Big Ten have told D1Baseball that they are either staying at 11.7 for the time being, or getting a gradual increase over the next couple of years. That’s a fascinating contrast to watch moving forward.

• Any NIL deal not signed by midnight on Friday, June 6, will be subject to final approval by the NIL Clearinghouse. Furthermore, any pre-existing NIL deal that is not fully paid by July 1, 2025, will be subject to approval by the NIL Clearinghouse. So, let’s say a player has only been paid 75% of their NIL deal by July 1. The remaining funds owed to that student athlete would then go through the NIL Clearinghouse. At least one source close to a prominent collective in the SEC told me on Friday night that most of his student-athlete’s deals were signed, sealed and delivered early in the evening on Friday. There will definitely be a mad dash to that midnight deadline.

• Any NIL deal worth $600 or more must be approved by the NIL Clearinghouse.

• There will be a significant distinction between corporate/company-specific NIL dollars and the system that is currently in place, which is essentially boosters funneling money through collectives to student athletes for the most part. The more legitimate — i.e., the more these deals involve actual companies — the more likely they are to be approved by the NIL Clearinghouse.

• Ultimately, Friday’s approval of the House Settlement is outstanding news … for the short term. Several sources close to the situation fully expect this to be challenged in the courts, and thus, all or some components of the Settlement could potentially be thrown out. There will be plenty of twists and turns over the next few weeks and months

Big Ten baseball is likely dead

 

[Charlesroast]

Actually the addition of the west coast team, additional scholarships, pay for play with some attempt at side boards, and roster limits will be significant in the return of B1G baseball to national relevance. Obviously moving the start of the season back 2-4 weeks will be huge when it happens and I comfortable it will.

 

[kraft cheese+macaroni]

Actually the addition of the west coast team, additional scholarships, pay for play with some attempt at side boards, and roster limits will be significant in the return of B1G baseball to national relevance. Obviously moving the start of the season back 2-4 weeks will be huge when it happens and I comfortable it will.

I don't have any hope that IU or most of the B1G will fully fund baseball like most of the SEC probably will, as well as some of the ACC and Big XII teams.

 

[ptrich]

Actually the addition of the west coast team, additional scholarships, pay for play with some attempt at side boards, and roster limits will be significant in the return of B1G baseball to national relevance. Obviously moving the start of the season back 2-4 weeks will be huge when it happens and I comfortable it will.

I don't have any hope that IU or most of the B1G will fully fund baseball like most of the SEC probably will, as well as some of the ACC and Big XII teams.

It never was a level-playing field between the cold weather schools/conferences and the warm weather schools/conferences, so I don't see this changing things much in that area. We brought in the west coast schools where the climate is much milder, and they immediately dominated the conference in their first season in the conference with UCLA making it to the College World Series. The SEC will continue to pump big bucks into their baseball programs, with the ACC being somewhat close to them in funding their programs, and the B1G will never come close to that funding commitment despite the settlement taking effect July 1st. The SEC has two coaches with salaries at or just a hair under $3 million a year and you will never see that in the B1G.

You do have some exceptions to that such as Louisville which has weather pretty similar to Bloomington, but being in the ACC helps them attract top players, and they usually get quality players out of the state of Indiana as a result of that.

 

[ptrich]

I saw today that our friends up in W. Laffyette are allocating just $300,000 to nonrevenue sports athletes out of the $20.5 million in revenue sharing money with athletes each school is authorized to max out at. It's going to be a battle with the coaches over who gets the crumbs out of that $300K allocation. I don't know if the Boilers intend to use the max limit of the revenue sharing money.

I haven't seen anything on what IU intends to do.

The settlement's roster limits were expected to lead schools to cut nearly 5,000 athletes from rosters, and many programs had already begun the process before the judge issued her final approval.

The new NIL Go clearinghouse will approve additional financial deals for student-athletes.

 

[ptrich]

If you haven't already seen it, there was an article out today on how IU is approaching the revenue sharing situation. We will probably never see the breakdown on what money goes to each sport at IU. Here are excerpts from it if you haven't seen it.

IU Athletic Director Scott Dolson confirmed to IndyStar on Tuesday his department will allocate the full $20.5 million purely as shared revenue — with the bulk of that money sinking into football, men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball — forgoing alternative sharing mechanisms like additional scholarships.

Scholarships in sports like baseball, which receives 11.7 scholarships annually to split among its roster, or men’s soccer, which receives the equivalent of 9.9 scholarships each year, will remain the same scholarship-wise for right now.

He estimated Indiana will commit between 70-75% of that budget to its football program, a fairly standard number at the Power Four-conference level. For context, 75% of $20.5 million is a tick under $15.4 million annually.

IU will commit roughly 20% of its rev-share budget to men’s basketball, a number widely seen as near the top end of the market among football schools (Big East programs with little to no football commitment are expected to enjoy larger basketball-specific budgets).

Women’s basketball and volleyball, both fully funded scholarship sports, will get the next largest shares of the pie, with the remainder “sprinkled” across IU’s other 20 varsity sports, according to Dolson.

 

[Bligedy]

If you haven't already seen it, there was an article out today on how IU is approaching the revenue sharing situation. We will probably never see the breakdown on what money goes to each sport at IU. Here are excerpts from it if you haven't seen it.

IU Athletic Director Scott Dolson confirmed to IndyStar on Tuesday his department will allocate the full $20.5 million purely as shared revenue — with the bulk of that money sinking into football, men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball — forgoing alternative sharing mechanisms like additional scholarships.

Scholarships in sports like baseball, which receives 11.7 scholarships annually to split among its roster, or men’s soccer, which receives the equivalent of 9.9 scholarships each year, will remain the same scholarship-wise for right now.

He estimated Indiana will commit between 70-75% of that budget to its football program, a fairly standard number at the Power Four-conference level. For context, 75% of $20.5 million is a tick under $15.4 million annually.

IU will commit roughly 20% of its rev-share budget to men’s basketball, a number widely seen as near the top end of the market among football schools (Big East programs with little to no football commitment are expected to enjoy larger basketball-specific budgets).

Women’s basketball and volleyball, both fully funded scholarship sports, will get the next largest shares of the pie, with the remainder “sprinkled” across IU’s other 20 varsity sports, according to Dolson.

RIP IU Baseball.

Rest in pieces.

 

[welshman#]

If you haven't already seen it, there was an article out today on how IU is approaching the revenue sharing situation. We will probably never see the breakdown on what money goes to each sport at IU. Here are excerpts from it if you haven't seen it.

IU Athletic Director Scott Dolson confirmed to IndyStar on Tuesday his department will allocate the full $20.5 million purely as shared revenue — with the bulk of that money sinking into football, men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball — forgoing alternative sharing mechanisms like additional scholarships.

Scholarships in sports like baseball, which receives 11.7 scholarships annually to split among its roster, or men’s soccer, which receives the equivalent of 9.9 scholarships each year, will remain the same scholarship-wise for right now.

He estimated Indiana will commit between 70-75% of that budget to its football program, a fairly standard number at the Power Four-conference level. For context, 75% of $20.5 million is a tick under $15.4 million annually.

IU will commit roughly 20% of its rev-share budget to men’s basketball, a number widely seen as near the top end of the market among football schools (Big East programs with little to no football commitment are expected to enjoy larger basketball-specific budgets).

Women’s basketball and volleyball, both fully funded scholarship sports, will get the next largest shares of the pie, with the remainder “sprinkled” across IU’s other 20 varsity sports, according to Dolson.

Interesting in that I would suspect that, at least historically, men’s soccer has brought in at least as much revenue as either women’s basketball or women’s volleyball. Maybe that’s changed in the past couple of years, I don’t know.

Gotta think ( as I have for at least 7-8 years now) that non-revenue intercollegiate sports will eventually get dropped, at least on the men’s side.

 

[ptrich]

RIP IU Baseball.

Rest in pieces.

Actually, other B1G schools are facing the same conundrum so as far as success within the conference, I don't see much changing. What will be interesting is seeing how the ACC and the SEC face the same situation considering they emphasize baseball more the B1G schools when you look at the money spent on their programs and the facility enhancements. They face the same max limit of $20.5 million in revenue sharing although NIL deals are still in effect and they have to go to the NIL Clearinghouse if they are at or over $600. Naturally, there will still be cheating.

 

[Bligedy]

Actually, other B1G schools are facing the same conundrum so as far as success within the conference, I don't see much changing. What will be interesting is seeing how the ACC and the SEC face the same situation considering they emphasize baseball more the B1G schools when you look at the money spent on their programs and the facility enhancements. They face the same max limit of $20.5 million in revenue sharing although NIL deals are still in effect and they have to go to the NIL Clearinghouse if they are at or over $600. Naturally, there will still be cheating.

I think that enough schools will go to 34 full rides that it will hurt the quality of iu’s 11.7.

 

[kraft cheese+macaroni]

I think that enough schools will go to 34 full rides that it will hurt the quality of iu’s 11.7.

It will only be a few within the B1G, imo

 

[kraft cheese+macaroni]

Interesting in that I would suspect that, at least historically, men’s soccer has brought in at least as much revenue as either women’s basketball or women’s volleyball. Maybe that’s changed in the past couple of years, I don’t know.

Gotta think ( as I have for at least 7-8 years now) that non-revenue intercollegiate sports will eventually get dropped, at least on the men’s side.

Winning doesn’t equate to revenue. A single WBB game probably gets 25% or more of soccer’s total season attendance. It’s probably fair to say soccer hasn’t out earned WBB in 25+ years. Expenses are a different story.

 

[Bligedy]

It will only be a few within the B1G, imo

I agree. But some mid majors that aren't dumping every dollar into football will be in play for guys who want full rides in baseball.