Over 80% of youth sports families nationwide believe expanding college roster opportunities for high school athletes should be the top priority, according to a new IMG Academy survey.
The elite developmental platform polled over 1.6K families nationwide as part of its #AddMoreAthletes initiative.
83% prioritized roster spots
14% prioritized athlete compensation
3% prioritized whether athletes should be considered employees
Roster expansion is slightly more important to families pursuing opportunities beyond major conference basketball and football — 85% prioritize it compared to 78% of basketball/football families. The latter group is also slightly more concerned with compensation — 17% to 12%.
The survey did stark differences regarding reclassification as a tool to improve the chances of a college roster spot.
23% of all families considering reclassification
36% of families pursuing major conference football/hoops are considering
15% of families pursuing other sports considering
IMG estimates there are 75M families and students involved in youth sports. It previously projected 8M high school athletes were vying for 500K college roster spots.
The #AddMoreAthletes initiative is not only pushing to repeal roster limits established by the House settlement.
The initiative also calls for schools to add JV and varsity-light programs outside the NCAA framework, or to have teams at several NCAA levels — i.e. Ohio State fielding D1, D2 and D3 football squads.
IMG found 57% of families would pay tuition for JV or varsity-light competition models and 52% would pay full tuition to play a college sport.
This survey lays the foundation for a strong first wave strategy — getting the NCAA to pass legislation allowing schools to have a few extra roster spots solely for incoming high school athletes.
Not to say IMG’s ideas are not worthwhile or cannot come to fruition, but that feels like a much more realistic goal than getting schools to launch new teams or eliminated roster caps entirely.
The recent White House roundtable on college sports accomplished next to nothing, but there was one noteworthy development after the fact.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey pointed out that 60% of new scholarships at the Power Four level are going to female athletes during his debriefing interview with ESPN’s Paul Finebaum. The teams and roster spots that are genuinely at risk are men’s Olympic sports, he added.
That checks out. While all of these schools are potentially (probably? definitely?) violating Title IX with how they distribute revenue share compensation, they adhere to the law everywhere else. Which means we are going to see even more of a roster crunch for male athletes moving forward.
A related recent development: Iowa State eliminated its women’s gymnastics program, but pledged to launch a new women’s sport that provides equal or more opportunities (I’m going to guess wrestling).
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