Supreme Court rules against NCAA in antitrust case in unanim

I think the walls coming down.

I don’t expect this will affect soccer too much. Initially this will give schools the ability to offer other forms of compensation to football/ basketball players. Per WSJ, “ …means schools could offer compensation beyond the cost of attending college, such as scholarships for graduate or vocational schools, internships, computer equipment and study-abroad programs—and limited cash awards for athletes, potentially nearly $6,000 for now, who do well in the classroom.” Who knows what the long term effects will be.

… so I’m not sure the latest SCOTUS ruling allows athletes to profit from brand endorsements or other moneymaking endeavors beyond what colleges provide. It appears it’s allowing for the school to provide some additional compensation above scholarships, ie internships, good grade bonuses, etc. However, it’s clear everyone is looking past this as paving the way for big money endorsements. This appears inevitable and there will certainly be 1st, 2nd, and 3rd order effects.

I think this is all very intriguing but generally agree how it impacts soccer is likely minimal. However, it would seem that it would terminate the cap on scholarships per soccer team (which I believe is 13.5). So, let's say there is a university (e.g. UNC) whose soccer program due to reputation/money/swag/etc. merits the coach saying, "I want that kid before they go to my competitor, so we need to give her a full ride even if we have 13.5 scholarships of commitments paid for." Is there a chance that certain programs offer more scholarships? Can they under this ruling? Would they? Thoughts?

My thoughts are College Soccer is a non revenue producing sport. All the discussion right now is about the billions (with a B) of dollars college football takes in and about how these athletes share the pie. How it affects soccer from a third or fourth order trickle down effect, who knows yet. However, soccer programs are supported financially, in many cases, by football and basketball revenue. It’s very likely some changes might not be positive. Maybe soccer athletes will see some of the money but with more money to football/ basketball athletes, I don’t think increasing scholarships to non revenue producing sports would be top of the list.

www.google.com/amp/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/ncaa-supreme-court-decision-11624363199

The number of scholarships per sport is set by the NCAA to keep an even playing field


For example:

D1 Football is 85
Baseball 11.7
Basketball 15 men 13 for women

Soccer limit is 14



www.collegescholarships.org/scholarships/sports/soccer.htm


The NCAA – Soccer

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) was founded more than a century ago. Its operating principle is to protect the interests of student-athletes, and to regulate all aspects of competitive sports at the college level. The NCAA consists of three divisions, which determine the rules by which colleges can recruit players and award athletic scholarships and grants. All NCAA colleges and universities are bound by the regulations of their division, and will be severely penalized for any infringement of those rules.



NCAA Division I

There are 198 men’s soccer programs, and 320 women’s soccer programs in Division I. NCAA Division I schools include Baylor University, Purdue, the University of Florida and Michigan State. These are the powerhouse schools in all of college athletics, and only the most exceptional soccer players will score scholarships from these colleges and universities. The NCAA strictly regulates the number of scholarships that each school in Division I can offer. Women’s soccer programs are capped at 14 full tuition scholarships, while men’s soccer programs are limited to 9. These are full ride scholarships, and coaches may choose to divide them up however they wish. For example, if a coach has 14 full ride scholarships to award in the women’s soccer program, they may choose to recruit 28 players, offering only a partial scholarship to each. In this way, Division I colleges can stretch their scholarship limitations to include a greater number of players.

Good question.  Based upon federal law the only way this scenario could happen is if the number of ex: football scholarships increased from 85 to 86.  Which would allow w soccer to go from 13.5 to 14.5 for example.  

I am thinking the bigger impact on the ruling for sports like w soccer, could be the creation of more flexible financial packages.  Making them (e.g. UNC) a more attractive option for a student-athlete, even without receiving a full athletic scholarship.  Similar to what ivy league schools offer.  Smart kids don't care what type of financial assistance is given, as long as it covers a fair percentage of their costs to attend the school.  Even if it's not in the form of "athletic scholarship" dollars, I think this ruling will lead to smart coaches and programs having more autonomy in the near future, an ability to develop creative financial packages for students/parents to consider.  Especially those who want to play at a particular school or for a particular coach.  

I’m not sure where all this is going-but one thing I am sure of-tuition will go up.

“ U.S. Olympic teams will wind up needing major support from the federal government. College football revenue has driven Olympic success for a long time. The popular U.S. women’s national soccer team? Nearly all of its players were trained by highly paid coaches at top-level facilities at major football-playing schools. Those coaches and facilities were largely paid for with money generated by the efforts of football players.”

Premier league is finding a way to make it work with huge advertising deals and tv contracts. The difference is having the best players in the world. Tough to get people to spend money on an inferior product.