NCAA Roster Limits

[Guest]

https://sports.yahoo.com/sources-nca...164300598.html

I have yet to find what is being proposed for soccer. But if something is going to be done it will happen for the 25-26 season per several articles. What does everyone think the soccer roster limit will be?

Will schools increase mens and women's sports scholarships (the haves) or will schools cut sports that don't have enough revenue to go around (the have nots).

Times are changing fast!

[Guest]

Update on NCAA Division 1 College Roster Sizes.

-Roster sizes any where from 24-28. Some Power 4 conferences are voting on a smaller number.

-They will NOT grandfather in the current roster. What does this mean? That if there are current rosters beyond the roster limit they will have to make cuts. Not just with their current team but with their 2025 verbally committed class.

-2025 D1 commits, you’re never officially safe until you sign your national letter of intent in November. If they limit the roster and they do not grandfather the current rosters, your coach has to decide between keeping a current player or you. To the Power 4 commits and most mid major D1 commits, count the current roster and how many 2025’s coming in. Anything beyond 30+ you could be in trouble.

-2026 Class, there will be delays in your class. Colleges are waiting on the final verdict before offering any 2026’s because this will affect your class the most as coaches will have to be even more selective with their recruiting classes. -One D1 coach DM came in that they believe the roster cap will be voted on conference by conference whether or not to limit the roster as some D1 schools rely on enrollment to help with their budgets.

-Overall, making a D1 Power 4 roster just became more difficult. Kids that were making these rosters as the bottom 4-6 will now slide down to mid-major D1. Those bottom 4-6 on mid-major D1 will slide down to D2, and so on and so on. College Soccer will be more competitive on the field and off the field for recruits to make the desired rosters. The committed 2025 D1 class should be paying close attention in the coming weeks because you could be looking for a new home. Current athletes on college rosters are not safe from just being on a roster. For the 2026 class expect a delay from visits or offers until the schools know how to move forward. The D1 or Bust mentality just became more competitive.

https://x.com/ImCollegeSoccer/status...65712765935727

[Guest]

Update on NCAA Division 1 College Roster Sizes.

-Roster sizes any where from 24-28. Some Power 4 conferences are voting on a smaller number.

-They will NOT grandfather in the current roster. What does this mean? That if there are current rosters beyond the roster limit they will have to make cuts. Not just with their current team but with their 2025 verbally committed class.

-2025 D1 commits, you’re never officially safe until you sign your national letter of intent in November. If they limit the roster and they do not grandfather the current rosters, your coach has to decide between keeping a current player or you. To the Power 4 commits and most mid major D1 commits, count the current roster and how many 2025’s coming in. Anything beyond 30+ you could be in trouble.

-2026 Class, there will be delays in your class. Colleges are waiting on the final verdict before offering any 2026’s because this will affect your class the most as coaches will have to be even more selective with their recruiting classes. -One D1 coach DM came in that they believe the roster cap will be voted on conference by conference whether or not to limit the roster as some D1 schools rely on enrollment to help with their budgets.

-Overall, making a D1 Power 4 roster just became more difficult. Kids that were making these rosters as the bottom 4-6 will now slide down to mid-major D1. Those bottom 4-6 on mid-major D1 will slide down to D2, and so on and so on. College Soccer will be more competitive on the field and off the field for recruits to make the desired rosters. The committed 2025 D1 class should be paying close attention in the coming weeks because you could be looking for a new home. Current athletes on college rosters are not safe from just being on a roster. For the 2026 class expect a delay from visits or offers until the schools know how to move forward. The D1 or Bust mentality just became more competitive.

https://x.com/ImCollegeSoccer/status...65712765935727

I wonder where the schools will end up in terms of total # of fully funded scholarships. If you are in the same conference and school A can fund the full 24-28 and you are school B and can only fund 15 you will be at a competitive disadvantage. And that's only P4. Lord only knows what non P4 schools will be able to fund. Crazy!

[Guest]

This Seems like it will have a potentially negative impact in soccer at some schools. If the schools are able to shift more money into the revenue sports it seems like they could put a lot less in other sports and not just via scholarships.

A side question… my child’s friend was committed to a D1 program. Coach had him go play in Europe for a year. During that year Coach gets fired. New Coach de commits all old Coach’s recruits, tells friend he wants to see him play, doesn’t get the opportunity and goes silent on friend. Is this common where new Coach does this? I’m think child signed letter of intent before this all happened. Kid will be going to other D1 school but we were curious about how this happens. It at least seems morally wrong as the school committed to this child not sure if anything else is technically wrong. Would appreciate any insight.

[Guest]

It’s odd that a coach would stop contact with a scholarship athlete (maybe just a preferred walk on?). If the kid signed an NLI with a P4 conference, that scholarship is good for four years (one year at a smaller D1). Most times when this happens, new coach explains there is no spot on team for old recruits and both sides part ways. Kind of sounds like old coach had money available following year, kid/coach agreed on gap year, no NLI was signed and new coach was a jerk. Just speculating here.

[Guest]

Let’s limit the number of overage international players on college soccer rosters.

[Guest]

This Seems like it will have a potentially negative impact in soccer at some schools. If the schools are able to shift more money into the revenue sports it seems like they could put a lot less in other sports and not just via scholarships.

A side question… my child’s friend was committed to a D1 program. Coach had him go play in Europe for a year. During that year Coach gets fired. New Coach de commits all old Coach’s recruits, tells friend he wants to see him play, doesn’t get the opportunity and goes silent on friend. Is this common where new Coach does this? I’m think child signed letter of intent before this all happened. Kid will be going to other D1 school but we were curious about how this happens. It at least seems morally wrong as the school committed to this child not sure if anything else is technically wrong. Would appreciate any insight.

For some schools they may indeed have to cut some sports due to having to pay players under the settlement. Basically if they have to pay 20M a year they won't have enough revenue for other sports.

But the top echelon schools won't cut. They can't without sacrificing competitiveness. Also if you count the total adds in mens funding and the adds in women's funding there is a delta weighted towards men's sports. Under Title IX they won't be able to do that. So I wonder how they regain Title IX compliance.

They have 2 choices. Cut other mens programs that are not mentioned in the article. OR Add equitable funding to additional womens sports not mentioned.

Also what's not stated but implied is this roster limit goes for every sport. They just called out a few. But the settlement will require them to specify every sport and every limit and the funding therein. So pretty soon we will know where everything stands. Then it will just be a matter of which schools can afford how many fully funded scholarships across each sport.

[Guest]

Let’s limit the number of overage international players on college soccer rosters.

There is no ‘overage’ in NCAA rules. Only years of eligibility rules. You can start those years at any age.

[Guest]

For some schools they may indeed have to cut some sports due to having to pay players under the settlement. Basically if they have to pay 20M a year they won't have enough revenue for other sports.

But the top echelon schools won't cut. They can't without sacrificing competitiveness. Also if you count the total adds in mens funding and the adds in women's funding there is a delta weighted towards men's sports. Under Title IX they won't be able to do that. So I wonder how they regain Title IX compliance.

They have 2 choices. Cut other mens programs that are not mentioned in the article. OR Add equitable funding to additional womens sports not mentioned.

Also what's not stated but implied is this roster limit goes for every sport. They just called out a few. But the settlement will require them to specify every sport and every limit and the funding therein. So pretty soon we will know where everything stands. Then it will just be a matter of which schools can afford how many fully funded scholarships across each sport.

So the more interesting question is will there be an even higher demand for ECNL/GA?

[Guest]

So the more interesting question is will there be an even higher demand for ECNL/GA?

It wouldn't surprise me if things are remarkably similar to what they are now for "non-revenue" sports.

[Guest]

We still have title IX for women’s sports. Not sure how much schools that receive federal money can change rules for women?
If schools are talking about limiting rosters I would think 25-30 on the roster aren’t receiving any scholarship money?
I would think they are there because of the school and then wanted to play soccer.
Also assuming if you are player 25-30 at a top school you want to be at the school? If playing time and you could get more scholarship money from a mid major they would have gone there in the first place?

[Guest]

You guys aren’t understanding this correctly. This is all related to the House v NCAA blockbuster settlement and the scholarship increases and roster limits will apply to SCHOOLS THAT OPT IN TO THE NEW REVENUE SHARING MODEL. Opting in to this model means, among other things l, that you will be setting aside 20-22milliion per year for the benefit of paying athletes. The Power conferences are lining up to Opt In but this will be impossible for just about everyone else.

[Guest]

https://x.com/ImCollegeSoccer/status...36338058940828

Oh my goodness!

[Guest]

https://x.com/ImCollegeSoccer/status...36338058940828

Oh my goodness!

The issue is so complicated that many of the articles pertaining to the settlement don’t even Explain it properly and tend to imply that these roster limitations will apply to everyone. If you do your homework and research the actual terms of the settlement and find the articles that explain in greater detailyou will see that they describe a new revenue sharing model in which you have to opt in. And opting in not only means you have to Have a pool of 20 to 22,000,000 to share with athletes each year. These increased scholarship amounts and roster limitations only apply to those who opted into the new model and essentially create a new tier College sports and this will not include many if any schools that are not power four

[Guest]

The issue is so complicated that many of the articles pertaining to the settlement don’t even Explain it properly and tend to imply that these roster limitations will apply to everyone. If you do your homework and research the actual terms of the settlement and find the articles that explain in greater detailyou will see that they describe a new revenue sharing model in which you have to opt in. And opting in not only means you have to Have a pool of 20 to 22,000,000 to share with athletes each year. These increased scholarship amounts and roster limitations only apply to those who opted into the new model and essentially create a new tier College sports and this will not include many if any schools that are not power four

Ok so let’s assume that conferences with large pools opt in. P5 and a few others. Now let’s conservatively say that is 80 schools and each one rosters 5 less players. That’s 400 less P5-ish players that are now taking 400 spots on the next set of mid major teams, assuming other schools do not increase their current rosters. Those former mid-majors slide down and so on. Accordingly, the rule change will affect all available spots, and increase the overall quality of college soccer.