College Hockey - Opting In or Not?

[RSTuthill]

Only 9 men's hockey schools out of 64 are members of a P4 conference. For the women, the numbers are 6 out of 44. Thus the rapidly approaching deadline of 3/1 is looming and a LOT of decisions are gonna have to be made. This will be fascinating. The Ivy League has said that none of its schools are opting in. In the rest of the ECAC, the rumor is that only Quinnipiac is even considering opting in. In Hockey East, only BC are P4. UConn has indicated it will opt in by shutting down Bleed Blue for Good and turning NIL over to the UConn Foundation to mange NIL, although I have not seen a public announcement on their official direction. Thus 9 schools in HE will have to make a decision in 8 days. In the east, only Syracuse and BC are included in the settlement for the women.

Out west, the B1G is obviously a part of the settlement, but AZ State for the men is the only other school. For the women out west, only the B1G schools are included.

Bottom line: next season is likely to see college hockey split across conference lines with some schools playing with revenue sharing, roster limits of 26 players, and unlimited scholarships, while (probably the majority) will be playing with no revenue sharing, no roster limits, but a limit of 18 equivalencies, and external NIL with the schools not involved directly. All schools will be able to give Alston grants. In my humble opinion, and for sure JMHO, this will be an unstable situation and in a few years will eventually lead to either realignment or more rules revision.

Your thoughts?

 

[huskymedic]

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

North Dakota, purportedly not.

 

[RSTuthill]

BC did not opt in. They were already in. And the other five did not opt out. They were already out.

 

[RSTuthill]

North Dakota, purportedly not.

Wow!

 

[shizzle787]

The article says Vermont will likely opt in for 26/27.

 

[RSTuthill]

The article says Vermont will likely opt in for 26/27.

I saw that. But not until the following year. I don't think that opting in is gonna be done yearly. At least that is what I heard. If not done yesterday it could be a long wait if true.

 

[husky8273]

Opting in for most schools results in most revenue sharing to go to football, MBB and WBB. what will be left for hockey? are the hockey roster limits changing?

 

[huskymedic]

I saw that. But not until the following year. I don't think that opting in is gonna be done yearly. At least that is what I heard. If not done yesterday it could be a long wait if true.

 

[huskymedic]

Opting in for most schools results in most revenue sharing to go to football, MBB and WBB. what will be left for hockey? are the hockey roster limits changing?

Yes… the new roster cap is 26 players next year. That’s a bump from the current 18-scholarship max.

 

[RSTuthill]

Yes… the new roster cap is 26 players next year. That’s a bump from the current 18-scholarship max.

It is important to note that 26 is only for schools in the P5 or who have opted in. There is no roster limit for those not opting in. However, and this is causing major angst, most teams now carry more than 26. Hockey is a high speed contact sport. At any given time it is not all that unusual to have more than 6 injured scratches.

 

[RSTuthill]

Thank you for the update. Explains a bit.

 

[RSTuthill]

Opting in for most schools results in most revenue sharing to go to football, MBB and WBB. what will be left for hockey? are the hockey roster limits changing?

Remember that Title 9 crosscuts all of that.