What is the future of NCAA Track and XC given the huge changes at NCAA and Power 5 football

Preps will turn to crypto teams in high school and continue in college. Back in the day the NCAA was necessary 150 years ago when the farms life was 90% of the U.S. economy. Now we have internet, smart phones, crypto startups, VR/AR, gaming for each of use to exploit.

I don't think scholarships or programs will be cut, I think the sport will always be a fixture at most schools. That really is the only point I have thoughts on to be honest. I am curious what others will think because this is a really good question and one I was wondering myself. Hope to see some good insight on this thread!

Prospects will opt for semi-pro teams that pay rather than college. Money talks!

We will find out in January what the future holds for the sport at the collegiate level. This is when the NCAA will vote on the recommendations from the transformation committee. It is likely they will reduce the minimum sports needed to be sponsored, but will mandate that all sports sponsored have to be at a certain percentage of being fully funded.

If this comes to fruition, this will be the first indicator that the sport, at least on the men's side, is in trouble

I have a friend that's an attorney specializing in NIL deals. There's big money out there. You wouldn't believe how deep the pockets are at the major universities.

They also will allow unlimited sized coaching staffs (obviously a benefit to programs with more money).

Not only that but I also heard T&F may become a head count sport... meaning that athletes will no longer be able to qualify for NCAAs individuals... they will only be able to qualify if their team is good overall.

This is what I heard from someone who would know. It seems silly to me to do it this way but I could see the bigger, more powerful universities push for this as it will essentially eliminate the distance only programs.

Again, this is what I was told and this person could have misunderstood what was being discussed but this would definitely change things drastically if true.

Independent teams are taking over from high school and college sports driven by open source NFT, Crypto, Block Chain, and business software technology.e NFT, Crypto, Block Chain, and business software technology.

Young people want to be paid immediately by local professional club teams via smart phone apps similar to Robinhood, So Fi, Apple Pay. That's a minimum requirement.

What type of nil?

Paige Bueckers (uconn hoops) signs w/Gatorade for $500k annually

or

some offensive lineman at tx a&m get paid $50k annually for no-show jobs at company owned by alumni booster

The second is far more common. There are few athletes generating 50k of value. Seriously nobody cares enough about what A&m back up QB eats. He is worth 50k for some wins.

I don't think so. Athletics is a lot more ingrained in the human psyche than a ton of other sports. Looking at a P5 school with the bare minimum number of sports (Purdue) they would almost certainly be cutting Golf, Tennis, and Swimming before Track.

We probably need to answer separately for the Power 2 and the rest of the Power 5 - at least after all the media deals are finalized in the next few years.

For the Big 10 and SEC, the immediate effect of everything going on may be a boon to programs - riding the gravy train - more money, more resources. That's assuming a certain amount of trickle down from athletic departments having more money. Obviously, departments don't have to give more to track. But, assume they will at least a bit. That's "good" on the surface. Also, more money might simply mean more programs holding on and not being the target of cuts. Could it lead to reinstatement at school like Minnesota? I I doubt it, but who knows. Right away, I the football realignment helps track programs in those two conferences.

What about the other three P5 conferences. Does the Big Ten and SEC having more money force them to put more money towards football and that hurts other sports? Or do things just stay steady?

Yes, it may become head count but the number of scholarships will increase a lot… people will still be able to qualify for ncaa as an individual and teams will still be able to have walk ons…. The same schools will be good… some schools will fund all the scholarships available some will not, just like now.

College sport will be a thing no matter what… currently naia, d2, d3 njcaa and whatever the CA jc and pacific NW jc acronyms are… clearly sport can exist without the ncaa and big time sport programs.

If Oregon joins the SEC, surely Mr. Knight will have a seat at the negotiating table, but it’s difficult to imagine what sort of T&F pork, beneficial to both athletes and running fans, he could stuff into the deal. I’d think the Eugene tourist economy would see a marginal bump, as SEC football fans travel well and would enjoy visiting a place like Eugene (It’s just like home, but weirdly mellow!) rather than a big metro area, assuming airfare & lodging aren’t cost prohibitive.

When football separates from NCAA, will they still want to use the names of the universities? There could be some licensing rights to help fund the other sports.

whats your point?

If you take a look at most mid major universities they are doing the bare minimum to keep track and field alive. I believe that the gap will only continue to grow between the well funded and barely funded DI teams. In 5-10 years if not sooner, there will be a break and the majority of teams will operate on a DIII structure, no scholarships and a professor/coach. I would guess than half of men’s programs have 12.6 scholarships anymore.

Women’s track will always be saved if Title IX is still in play. I don’t know how football breaking away would affect how title IX is applied to sports. I also heard ADs openly discussing how universities could never cut women's track because it provides the vast majority of minority student athletes.

With women now comprising nearly 60% of college enrollment it's becoming more difficult to ensure 60% of the athletes are female, particularly with football consuming a disproportionately large number of the male athletes. Unless football is removed from the equation, or more women start playing football, expect more men's teams like XC and T&F to be cut in order to comply with Title IX participation requirements.