Good news? NCAA set to increase scholarship allotments for colleges
Tagged under: News, Pennsylvania Colleges
Billy Splain | July 24, 2024
It’s one of the top complaints we hear in the recruiting world: “There’s no room for high school kids with the portal movement going on”. Well that may change. According to Ross Dellenger from Yahoo Sports the NCAA is set to release new limits for teams.
“During a meeting Tuesday, power conference commissioners finalized new roster-size limits that pave the way for athletic departments to distribute millions of dollars in new scholarships to athletes in, most notably, football, baseball and softball. Conference officials with knowledge of the figures spoke to Yahoo Sports under condition of anonymity”.
As part of the new revenue-sharing model — beginning in 2025-26 academic year — by-sport scholarship restrictions are eliminated, and schools are permitted to offer scholarships to the entirety of their rosters. The new roster limit figures are not final until the approval of House settlement terms.
Football, with a current scholarship restriction of 85, will now have a roster limit of 105 — a 20-scholarship increase for those schools willing to give the maximum. In an important note for football, the 105 may not be a requirement until the start of the competitive season, giving coaches flexibility to go beyond that figure during preseason camp, for instance.
The new roster figures are expected to be included in the long-form agreement in the landmark settlement of three antitrust cases, including the House v. NCAA lawsuit. The agreement is expected to be filed Friday with details on the distribution of the $2.77 billion in back pay to former athletes as well as particulars of the new revenue-sharing model permitting schools to distribute upwards of $20-plus million annually.
Another interesting development is that there will be a change to the scholarship structure:
“All sports will be considered “equivalency sports,” meaning partial scholarships can be distributed to players. Football, basketball and other sports are currently considered “head-count sports,” which require players on scholarship to receive a full grant”.
This is good news for many football players as the trickle down will eventually reach D2 and D3 while will need to dig deeper into the talent pool to fill spots on their rosters. That will open a lot of scholarship room for the talent rich Pennsylvania football scene.
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