The NCAA is increasing scholarship limits for multiple sports.
According to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports, conference commissioners created new roster size limits across multiple sports during a meeting on Tuesday, with the emphasis on paving the way for athletic departments to distribute millions of dollars in new scholarships for athletes playing baseball, softball and football.
Football's current scholarship limit sits at 85, while teams have a 120-player limit. Under the new proposal, which would take effect in the 2025-26 school year, the team limit for football would move to 105 but would see a scholarship increase of 20 players.
It should be noted that these are just the maximum scholarships a school can offer and that a school is not forced to increase its limit if it does not want to. Also, each sport will now be considered “equivalency sports,” which means partial scholarships can be distributed to athletes.
Ryan Day was asked about the proposed change to roster limits on Tuesday at Big Ten Media Days. The Ohio State head coach said it may be an adjustment trimming the roster limit by 20 players, even though the total scholarships available would increase by 20.
"I would have to discuss it a little bit more with (Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork). Ross and I have had that conversation before. I think there has to be a discussion about right now, 120 has been the number we all feel comfortable with going into a season," Day said Tuesday. "At 105, if you have attrition, if you have injuries, there's got to be something in place to be able to replace (those numbers). Does that mean you bring in a certain amount of guys in the preseason and cut it back before the season starts? I think all of those need to be determined. I do know that 120 has always been a number we've used for years because it works. If we were to go to 105, we'd have to make some adjustments."
According to Dellenger, the 105 limit may not be a requirement until the competition season, which would give coaches the added flexibility Day requested to go beyond the 105 during camp. Those conversations are still ongoing.
Meanwhile, men's and women's basketball will move from 13 scholarships to 15, baseball will go from 11.7 to 34, softball will increase from 12 to 25 and volleyball will move to 18. Including football, those new figures provide about 60 additional scholarships across the five sports. The roster figures are expected to be finalized with the $2.78 billon House settlement, which is expected to be finalized on Friday.
