Conversations about the House settlement have predictably centered on how schools might deploy funds to football and men’s basketball, but there are plenty of other sports that might see benefits from a new structure — perhaps none more than baseball.
Baseball might be one of the biggest winners in the passage of the settlement, as I wrote in this week’s magazine.
At a base level, seeing its longstanding scholarship limit of 11.7 erased in favor of roster limits allows for schools with baseball aspirations more access to fully fund scholarships in the sport.
South Carolina, Florida State, Clemson and Tennessee are just a few of the schools that are expected to add a significant number of scholarships moving forward, while revenue share and NIL figure to factor in significantly.
That also comes as schools continue to invest considerable resources into coaching contracts and facilities across the sport.
“It’s really the only sport that was so low and underfunded on the scholarship side that the first thing with the scholarship limits going away, it’s like, ‘OK, how fast can we get those to 25, 30, 34, whatever it is,’” South Carolina AD Jeremiah Donati told me. “Oh, and, by the way, you’ve got to pay ’em. It’s like a double dip.”
This also opens the door for a handful of mid-majors that are willing to invest more in baseball. College of Charleston is expecting to share between $300,000 and $500,000 with its baseball team.
“We haven’t been to the tournament in 11 years now,” said College of Charleston AD Matt Roberts. “And when you look up the street and you see Coastal [Carolina] going back [to the College World Series] — we beat them twice this year — you know it’s possible. Every year in the tournament, there’s always that team, and we’ve got to get back in the tournament. Rev share gives our coaching staff a chance to put together a competitive roster to do that.”
College baseball has always been hamstrung by scholarship limits. In this new revenue sharing world, the sport might just be ready for a significant cash infusion.
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