someone has to say it wrote:
85 scholarships for NCAA football is ludicrous. That's enough for each offensive and defensive position to be scholarshipped 4 people deep.
Football ought to be played the old style one platoon so all players play offense, defense, and special teams, and you can only leave the game for a substitution once a half.
Seriously, since football is a purely male sport, how can NCAA get away with 85 scholarships in light of Title IX?
And the OP makes a great point. Why can't there be bigger limits on other sports so a school can distribute it's scholarships cafeteria style.
There is also a level of national competitive equity in the low number of scholarships available to track and field.
If you could have 30 track scholarships how many schools would actually commit to that maximum? Many schools don't currently fund their teams to the 12.6 or 18 maximum currently. So if you have a handful of teams with 30 and everyone else at 5 what happens? The sport divides even more than it is now, more programs get cut, and opportunities are lost unless you are truly elite to get one of those 30 at the biggest schools in the country.