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On Friday, the NCAA and the Power Five conferences agreed to settle a series of antitrust lawsuits with a payout of $2.8 billion over the next 10 years. A federal judge must still approve the filed settlement.
The details of the settlement, as well as the associated consequences of the lawsuit, could ultimately alter the NCAA track and field and cross country realm as we know it. Below, we broke down the most important aspects that you need to know...
What Is Happening
The NCAA and the Power Five conferences agreed to a deal that will distribute a total of nearly $2.8 billion to athletes who missed out on earning opportunities (from NIL deals) from 2017 to 2020.
The agreement also allows schools to pay their athletes portions of the school's athletic department revenue each year. Power Five programs could pay up to $21 million, annually. The change will begin at the beginning of the 2025-2026 academic calendar.
That same settlement also includes limits on scholarships and roster spots.
Men's and women's cross country (each) now have a max total of 17 scholarships and 17 roster spots. Men's and women's track and field (each) now have a max total of 45 scholarships and 45 roster spots.
If an athlete competes in both cross country and track, then they will count towards scholarship spots (assuming they do receive a scholarship) and roster spots in both sports.
It should be further emphasized that these are scholarship and roster limits. Schools do not have to match/reach the maximum allocation.
Why This Is Important
With annual revenue sharing to athletes now exceeding $20 million in some cases, schools will likely begin to cut costs. Some schools may also aim to invest more funds into the higher scholarship limit for revenue-driving sports such as football.
That, in turn, could leave many NCAA track and field and/or cross country programs (as well as other non-revenue generating sports) on the chopping block.
The roster limits, especially for cross country, will also lead to athletes being cut from teams that previously held more athletes on their roster. You can expect the transfer portal to be the busiest that it’s ever been this time next year.
With scholarship limits rising, schools with greater funds will be able to invest even more heavily into their respective programs for cross country and/or track and field (should they choose to do so).
Smaller schools, however, will likely struggle to keep pace in terms of recruiting as they are (usually) not able to fund nearly as many scholarships. In theory, that will further widen the gap between top programs and the rest of the NCAA.
It should be noted, however, that certain schools will only be bound by these new roster and scholarship limits should they choose to distribute revenue.
“Those that are not defendants in the settlement case — schools and conferences in the Group of Five, FCS and non-football playing Division I programs — are bound by the roster limits, reporting system and enforcement mechanism only if they choose to share revenue with athletes. They can opt out of the new model if they decline to share revenue.”
The Stride Report is already aware of certain Power Five track and field and cross country programs that intend to capitalize on the scholarship allocation increase. In other words, schools that you would usually not associate with cross country may become nationally competitive in that area over the next couple of years.