LOYAL AG said:
themissinglink said:
W said:
Gap said:
Average cost of a scholarship is $54,700. So 20 additional scholarships is about $1.1M per year over $11M for a 10 year period.
Where does the $ come from? Does it come out of potential NIL, potential facilities, cutting sports with substantial losses, etc.?
What does a model that increases funding and scholarships for sports with higher demand like baseball mean regarding Title IX?? Do we then need to add a ladies sports to get back into equilibrium on scholarship numbers or do we cut a male sport to make up the difference?
yes, at some point the cancellation of programs at schools across the country has to begin
the money isn't there
I agree there will be cancellation of programs, especially in non-revenue sports.
The money is there for sports like football, basketball, and baseball, but I would expect some additional hefty trimming of costs in athletic departments. Specific to A&M, Trev already did one round of layoffs this spring that certain people (like our former baseball coach) were not happy about and it wouldn't surprise me if we see more.
Baseball at 11.7 is a money loser for almost everyone. It's a bigger loser at 34. I do like the compromise of allowing 18 partials for 34 players but still that's more money the vast majority of baseball programs simply don't have. This could get ugly.
Personally, I think you may see more clear regional differences. I can see the schools out west, for example, deciding that they will play with 15-18. As long as the schools that they are competing with are play with the same limits, it won't be as big of a disadvantage in the regular season. Where it will kill them is being competitive in the tournament. If the SEC and ACC are all providing full rides, and other conferences are not, they are going to have a clear talent edge. That's already the case right now, so some more movement in that direction will not kill the sport, in my opinion.
The curious case will be the Big Ten. The legacy Big Ten members all have plenty of money, and could afford to go to 34 if they wanted to. These schools typically field a lot more money losing sports than the minimum 18 (which is what we, and most SEC schools, do), so they are used to losing money in everything outside football and mens' basketball. If they are willing to fund the full complement, then that might actually help them finally step up a bit, because they will probably be able to raid the west coast and pick up some talent that previously wouldn't even have considered them.