Pros:
•Athletes are now eligible for revenue sharing. Obviously makes UCA a more attractive option for a lot of prospective athletes, and theoretically should help in getting more talent and, in turn, being more successful.
•Potential to award more scholarships. Baseball, for instance, has been limited to 11.7 scholarships to divvy up amongst the entire team however the coaches see fit. Now, they will be able to offer up to 34 full scholarships – 34 being the mandated roster limit. It remains to be seen how many scholarships UCA will actually fund in each sport, but the potential is at least there now to have 34 fulls. Football has been able to split 63 scholarships among its roster, will now be able to offer up to 105 – so in a perfect world, you’re getting 42 more guys on scholarship. Men’s basketball could have 2 more; Beach Volleyball 13 more, Men’s Track & Field 35.4 more and Women’s T&F 27 more; 18.1 more for Men’s Soccer & 14 more for Women’s Soccer; 13 more for Softball
Cons:
• Roster Limits. In lieu of scholarship limits, by opting in schools are now bound to roster limits – meaning no walk-ons, and some number crunches in the short-term. Women’s Soccer, for example, will have a roster limit of 28. This year they have 35 on the roster, and 7 seniors listed. Which means that they’re either going to have to make some cuts from the existing roster for next year, or not be able to honor any of the offers to recruits who have committed. Football will be limited to 105. They have 113 listed on the roster for this year. Men’s basketball has 17 rostered this year, their limit beginning next year will be 15. So, there will have to be some tough decisions made in some sports this offseason.
•Less enrollment, less money for the university. Limited rosters means fewer student-athletes (aka paying customers) which was the driving force in opting out this year. And then what little revenue the athletic department generates, a chunk of that will now go back to the athletes – in select sports, anyway. That’s less money the school will now have to invest into facilities, equipment, travel, salaries, wellness programs, etc. So, good for the athletes, not so great for the department/school.
•Donor competition. Instead of donors now giving exclusively to the Purple Circle – money that often went to the aforementioned items – some may now choose to give a portion (or all?) of their donations to these sport-specific Championship Resource Funds that will be used as revenue to share with the athletes.
•Potential reduction in sports sponsored. The minimum number of sports a school must sponsor to be Division I, at the FCS level, is 14. Right now, UCA offers 18. Just as tennis got axed recently, we could possibly see more cuts so that resources can be used to better fund the remaining sports.
I’m sure there are plenty more pros and cons if you really get into the weeds, but those are the high points that first come to my mind.
