Men - NCAA Roster Size/Scholarship Limit change coming? | The Boneyard

Men NCAA Roster Size/Scholarship Limit change coming?

This will hurt a number of schools (who are not pulling in P level revenues), which I imagine was the plan.

Adding twenty plus men's athletic scholarships will require a combination of additional women's scholarships (I'm guessing a similar ruling will be in place for softball) and fewer men's scholarships offer in other sports (for schools unwilling/unable to add forty to fifty scholarships).

It will get quite a bit more difficult for the little guy to compete against SEC/ACC/B1G/B-12 schools in baseball.
 


Passing HookC reference: “UConn has been a model for non-Power Fours”
 


“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.”
 
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-> At the time, the feeling was that baseball could eventually increase scholarships to a more palatable number, potentially 17-18. It was an idea that honestly seemed like a pipe dream at the time.

Now? Division I Baseball is on the cusp of being in an incredible position from a scholarship standpoint. This week, Sankey confirmed to Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellenger, in this piece, that Division I Baseball is expected to settle on a roster limit of 34 players, which is a decrease from the 40-man roster that programs will enter the 2025 campaign with. That reality will make the evaluation process even more critical for coaches. However, the most important piece of news from Sankey is about the scholarship limit or lack thereof.

Division I Baseball is expected to permit programs to offer full scholarships to everyone on their roster. So, if the roster is set at 34 players, all 34 could ideally be on a full scholarship – quite a contrast from the current setup, which allows for 11.7 scholarships to be spread over a 40-man roster. For teams that can’t get to the 34 full-scholarship threshold, you could theoretically spread 18 scholarships over 34 players. One mid-major coach told D1Baseball this week that it would make the situation ‘doable’ for them and others in the same boat.

Another mid-major coach, Austin Peay’s Roland Fanning, echoed those sentiments to D1Baseball. “I think it’s honestly really good for mid-major baseball. There are going to be more players who can’t be on a Power Four baseball roster because of the roster decrease, and that means they’re going to have to find another avenue in which to play college baseball,” Fanning said. “That’s a win for guys like us, that’s a win for DII, NAIA and especially junior college baseball. By doing this, you’re really going to force the bigger conferences to really evaluate those slots. This will be benefit the player, and the mid-majors.” <-
 
www.espn.com

Pending NCAA settlement, roster limits pose national signing day uncertainty

Part of the pending NCAA agreement would set new roster sizes in every Division I NCAA-sponsored sport.
www.espn.com www.espn.com

Good overall read of the mine filled landscape but here’s the baseball excerpt:

-> For coaches across multiple sports, the new limits raise concerns about having enough depth to absorb potential injuries, hold effective practices and reserve spots for players that might need more development before they're ready to contribute to a college team.

Louisville baseball coach Dan McDonnell says the limits will make it hard to hold effective practices, which has already proved to be a challenge in recent years. "If you have 10 pitchers throw today and tomorrow, you literally can't scrimmage for three, four or five days. And so we're limited as it is with how many times we're able to intrasquad," McDonnell said.

"So as a coach, there's a competitive side that concerns us with 34."

Baseball teams were previously required to trim their rosters to 35 by the start of the regular season. Since COVID prompted the NCAA to give players extra years of eligibility, teams have been able to carry up to 40 players in-season. Some coaches have been hoping the number would permanently jump to 40 due to the contraction of the minor leagues in pro baseball and a smaller Major League Baseball draft leaves more players potentially staying in or going to college.

Previous limits applied only to a team's roster during its season. Most teams carried more players during their offseason, which explains why NCAA data says the average Division I roster size is 41.9. Under the new roster limits, it's not clear whether teams will be allowed to carry more players during the offseason. "It's kind of a necessity, really, to have more than 34, at least in the fall," Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello said.

NCAA and conference officials also have not yet agreed on whether teams should be able to replace players who suffer significant injuries before or during the season. Vitello said dealing with inevitable injuries "could get kind of dicey" if a team has 30 or fewer healthy bodies heading into the season, especially in an era of increased specialization among pitchers and other fielders, leading to fewer two-way players. McDonnell said he could envision teams canceling or forfeiting games due to a lack of healthy players, particularly pitchers. <-
 
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huskymedic said:
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Ever since I started paying close attention to UConn baseball, it seems that the team usually has somewhere around 45 players on the roster at the start of fall ball. So this will be a change in UConn fall ball.
 
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huskymedic said:
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d1baseball.com

House Settlement Approved: Here's everything it means for college baseball • D1Baseball

Here's everything you need to know about how the House Settlement will effect college baseball.
d1baseball.com d1baseball.com

-> College baseball programs will have an official roster size of 34 players, and that 34-man roster must be declared by December 1, 2025 for the 2026 season. That means the official roster size of a college baseball team will decrease from 40 to 34 players beginning in ’26. <-

-> Walk-ons that you have within your program will count against your 34-man roster. Anyone who practices/competes for your team, or is on scholarship, counts against your 34-man roster. <-

-> College baseball programs have the ability to offer up to 34 full scholarships to all 34 players on their roster. Most power conferences are allowing their member institutions to do whatever they want in terms of scholarships — not setting conference-wide restrictions. Expect the scholarship totals to vary. For instance, a vast majority of the SEC, ACC and Big 12 will be at 25-34 full scholarships from the start, while at least 2-3 programs in the Big Ten have told D1Baseball that they are either staying at 11.7 for the time being, or getting a gradual increase over the next couple of years. That’s a fascinating contrast to watch moving forward. <-
 
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