Louisville head coach Arthur Albiero was one of two power conference coaches of Olympic sports to testify during a House Judiciary Committee hearing last week on Capitol Hill, but the topic that has been on everyone’s mind in recent weeks was left off the table.
Albiero and Georgia head track and field coach Caryl Smith Gilbert expressed major concerns about the health and future of Olympic sports in the NCAA during the hearing, predominantly focusing on the argument against college athletes being recognized as employees.
However, Albiero and Smith Gilbert didn’t address the imposition of roster limits from the House settlement, which has caused a mass amount of swimmers to enter the transfer portal in the past few days and figures to hamper NCAA programs in Olympic sports in the coming years.
The House settlement will lift restrictions on scholarships and instead introduce roster limits, with Power Division I swim & dive teams set to have a cap of 30 spots beginning next season, save the SEC men which will only allow 22.
Albiero and Smith Gilbert’s argument was based on the idea that if college athletes became employees, there wouldn’t be enough money to go around to fund Olympic sports programs, incentivizing schools to cut them.
“While the proposed House settlement will provide a measure of structure to the NIL landscape, it also has consequences for athletic departments that do not generate enough revenue to cover the expenses for all of its sports,” Alberio said in his opening statement at the hearing.
“I have serious concerns about student-athletes potentially becoming classified as employees. This could create a number of undesirable and unintended consequences including taxation, changes in medical services, and the opportunities in general for non-revenue sports. The required financial administrative burden of treating student-athletes as employees could force institutions to make even more difficult decisions about how many sports institutions are able to offer.”
The coaches called on Congress to pass legislation to provide antitrust protections to the NCAA that would classify student-athletes as amateurs, adamant that it’s essential to keep Olympic sports afloat in college athletics.
“The NCAA, the conferences and its member schools need Congressional support,” Albiero said while testifying. “We all recognize that there are 30-40 schools that generate millions of dollars, almost exclusively from football and basketball and those athletes should receive a different level of support.
“However, not all football and basketball teams, even those at Division 1 schools, generate such large revenues. About 22% of NCAA athletes play football or basketball. Less than that play for a team that brings in more money than they expense. To lump all football and basketball programs into the same category as all the top Power 4 teams is not only senseless, but also harmful, yet that is what is happening.”
Notably, an open letter from the track & field community published on March 13 addressed the issue of roster limits, with Smith Gilbert listed as one of the 18 coaches who authored the letter. According to Front Office Sports, the letter went live on social media midway through the hearing.
You can listen to the full hearing below:
The NCAA has been publicly seeking antitrust protection that would prohibit student-athletes from being considered employees—if they were classified as employees, in addition to wages, schools would be on the hook to provide certain benefits afforded to all U.S. workers. If the NCAA is granted such protection, it could enforce restrictions on athlete compensation without facing legal challenges claiming the rules violate competition laws.
To gain that antitrust protection, the NCAA would need the House settlement to be approved. As noted by Front Office Sports‘ Amanda Christovich, it’s in the NCAA’s best interest to have their own witnesses, Albiero and Smith Gilbert, not bring up problematic consequences of the settlement like roster limits, but rather paint a picture of how “bleak” college sports would look if athletes were considered employees.
Also testifying in the hearing was Andrew Cooper, the Executive Director of the United States College Association, who was opposed to Albiero and Smith Gilbert’s push for antitrust protection and said the NCAA should be forced “to simply follow the same laws as every other business in our country.”
Cooper went on to say that Olympic sports “could easily be subsidized by university endowments or through state and federal funding.”
“We’re one of the only countries in the world that does not federally fund Olympic sport development.”
Fortunately, Eddie Reese, is speaking out. He filed a declaration in the House settlement this week.
In it he wrote, “[n]obody is taking the side of the great majority of college athletes who just want to compete, including the thousands of swimming and diving athletes who will be cut, first individually and then when
their entire team is eliminated.”
It’s a shame that current coaches are afraid to speak up for their athletes.
Swimmers shouldn’t be paid. Coaches are overpaid.
If athletes are considered employees, as this hearing was exploring, swimming would be much deader than a 22 man roster limit in the SEC would make it.
Newsflash: Coaches and people on university payrolls will not criticize or contradict their AD bosses in public settings or the media. This has led some to believe that coaches are okay with roster cuts. They are not. I have had the opportunity to ask three current and two former SEC coaches about reductions. All of them are very concerned about the 22-man caps for men. They are also worried about football programs deciding they need even more players and/or resources because they usually get what they want, which would wreak further havoc on Olympic sports.
I think everyone agrees that the 22-swimmer cap inflicted by the SEC is a different discussion than the 30-swimmer cap implemented by the settlement.
Yeah, that 22 cap for men is problematic in many ways. Sorry to get on a tangent, here, but I also heard that redshirts would also count against the 22 limit. That seems ridiculous to me. It will be easy for a team to not even be able to bring a full team to the conference championship if they have any redshirts, not to mention injuries, which are very likely in swimming.
Unfortunately redshirts do count against the cap. They are considered part of the roster that needs to be cap compliant by the first competition. In addition in most cases moving forward they will be still receiving athletic scholarship aid and training during practices (unless injured). So, essentially doing everything but completing in meets. Unless someone gets hurt, the practice of redshirting will be almost nonexistent.
Nobody in Congress gives two cents about roster limits. We are fortunate to have Arthur as a swimming steward since he understands the bigger picture!
Maybe in minority, other than SEC men, I have no problem with the 30 person limit. Only 18 can go to NCs so is it necessary to have more than 30? No one is complaining about the scholarship numbers increasing! Let’s not get greedy!
Absolutely. But here’s the problem …..
Many (most?) universities will opt to revenue share very little revenue from the golden geese of football and basketball. Oh no. Those sports will likely now get most of the money, at most schools, and Olympic sports will get bupkiss. Hence, the cuts. Universities are already telling their Olympic sports coaches to cut (and they are) to ensure the revenue is protected for the golden geese.
I hope you’re right. As a swim fan, I really do. But for most schools, they won’t have enough money for the revenue sports to support the non-revenue sports (and remain competitive in the revenue sports). UNLESS the NCAA steps in – and mandates it. (which is my… Read more »
i imagine theyre side stepping the roster limit consequences bc precluding that — programs would be cut outright 😐
Maybe they’re in favor of the roster size changes?
NCAA fabricated the “student athlete” loophole. What other high risk labor has zero protection and is paid in kind? “Sorry your knee blew out and your multi million dollar football career ended, kid. Next.”