Historic House-NCAA settlement leaving hundreds of Olympic sport athletes in peril

Schools have eliminated roster spots and scholarship offers that they were once promised.

The NCAA and power conferences agreed to expand upon scholarships as part of the settlement of an antitrust lawsuit ( House ) The NCAA also imposed roster limits for sports, many of which did not previously exist.

In all, 68 power conference schools are expected to eliminate at least 3,000 roster positions.

Roster limits will require the elimination of walk-on athletes and even partial scholarships.

Title IX requirements put men’s Olympic sports further in jeopardy as well.

The settlement also sets the stage for the era of direct revenue sharing from school to athlete.

Some college administrators have been quite open about what SEC commissioner Greg Sankey describes as a “messy” time amid historic change.

Officials in individual conferences are discussing creating their own roster and scholarship limits.

The settlement’s impact on Olympic sports programs has long been discussed and dissected.

Many colleges serve as the very expensive farm system for the U.S. Olympic movement.