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Last fall, Whitman senior and football player Nate Sullivan was in touch with coaches at Virginia Tech, hoping for an opportunity to play for the program. The school then told him there was no spot for him on the team due to uncertainty surrounding the transfer portal and roster size. This kind of rejection is increasingly common in today’s recruiting landscape because of new roster limits expected to go into effect in July, which schools have already begun preparing for.

The roster limits vary by sport and are part of the House v. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) settlement, which will overhaul the current system of college sports. Former Arizona State University swimmer Grant House and former Texas Christian University women’s basketball player Sedona Prince filed the lawsuit to seek damages for athletes who couldn’t profit from their collegiate careers. The settlement addresses three antitrust class-action lawsuits concerning student-athlete compensation against the NCAA, allowing colleges to pay their athletes directly through revenue-sharing and removing scholarship limits in favor of roster restrictions. For almost half of NCAA sports, the current average roster size exceeds the new limits, and experts expect football and baseball teams to be the most affected. 

The roster size modifications have sparked significant controversy. For instance, California judge Claudia Wilken refused to approve the settlement due to her concerns about the new rules. NCAA attorneys recently announced revised terms that Wilken has yet to approve, which would allow athletes and recruits who lost their spots to return to their teams. These athletes will remain exempt from roster limits for the rest of their college careers, and schools are not obligated to reinstate them. Nonetheless, the plaintiffs’ lawyers have argued that the changes are too little and too late.

Senior baseball players Sammy Berman and Charlie Buckles committed to the University of Maryland and Florida State University before the House settlement’s confirmation. Berman decided to stay in Maryland after receiving several D1 offers, while Buckles was in touch with numerous Power Four programs before committing to Florida State as a rare out-of-state recruit for the Seminoles.

“I know kids who, before they changed the rules, committed freshman year,” Berman said. “It will just be unfortunate for those kids who have been committed so long to lose a spot.”

Buckles also said he knew people who had their offers revoked. The roster size for college baseball teams will go from an average of 41.9 in the 2023-2024 season down to 34, which led to many cuts. Buckles attributed his retention to his positional versatility, which Berman offers as well.

“I’m going to be there as a two-way [player], which is really helpful with the new roster sizes,” Buckles said.

Sullivan, however, didn’t enjoy the same security as Berman and Buckles had, having to look for other options after Virginia Tech couldn’t guarantee him a spot on the football team. He received two D1 scholarship offers and committed to Villanova University, where roster restrictions weren’t an issue as the program was already under the new 105-player cap.

Sullivan, Berman and Buckles all expressed some level of opposition to the roster limits, particularly surrounding the elimination of walk-ons, rescission of players’ positions and increased reliance on the transfer portal.  

With both of his offers coming after the House settlement’s preliminary approval, Sullivan experienced the effect of the new roster sizes firsthand. 

 “[The limits] make it very hard for high schoolers to get recruited,” Sullivan said, “because many coaches would rather take transfers with college experience than develop a high school kid.”

Villanova is an outlier in this sense, as defensive coordinator Ross Pennypacker and assistant coach David Riede said that the school will continue to focus on recruiting and developing high school players like Sullivan despite the new rules.

Not all D1 teams will have to adhere to the new rules. Teams in Power Four conferences — Southeastern Conference, Big 10, Big 12 and Atlantic Coast Conference — must institute roster limits and revenue-sharing, while other teams and conferences have the option to participate. Since many smaller schools can’t afford to pay for their players, they will likely choose to opt out. 

Maryland, Florida State and Villanova will all compensate their athletes starting next season and schools will finalize the deals once athletes arrive on campus in the fall. 

According to Riede, the logistics of student-athlete pay remain an issue.

“Our athletic department will determine the revenue-sharing program for our student-athletes if the House settlement passes,” Riede said.

While these players will have to wait until fall for their schools to pay them, they can still sign brand deals. Buckles has already taken advantage of this by signing an endorsement agreement with Dick’s Sporting Goods.

The House settlement has reshaped college sports, but Berman, Sullivan and Buckles were able to beat the odds and get a shot at the D1 level.

“As someone who considered trying to walk on at a bigger school, it’s sad to see that those opportunities will no longer exist,” Sullivan said. “There have been hundreds of all-time great walk-ons like JJ Watt, Clay Matthews and Baker Mayfield, all who in today’s game wouldn’t be given the chance to play in college.”

Good morning, and thanks for spending part of your day with Extra Points.

When we built the Extra Points Library, one of the documents we sought from every single public D-I and D-II institution was their itemized NCAA Financial Report. This report is a budget that breaks down exactly where athletic department revenues come from, and where they spent their money. It’s also helpfully itemized by sport.

Is this data perfect? No, nothing in college sports accounting is perfect. But as far as I’m aware, it’s the best standardized data set we have when it comes to finances and college athletics.

Using this data, I dug into the reported team-specific budgets for every baseball and softball program that earned a spot in their respective NCAA Tournament.

These budget numbers do not include athlete NIL payments. The budgets reported to the NCAA are for team operational expenses. These budgets cover things like coaching salaries, team travel, athlete meals, athlete equipment, game guarantees, recruiting, advanced stats software, severance payments, etc.

I obtain copies of university NCAA Financial Reports thanks to lots and lots of Open Records Act requests. That means that I do not have access to financial reporting from private schools, or from public athletic departments that are exempt from traditional records requests, like UCF. If anybody would like to leak those reports to me, I’d be more than happy to give you free access to the Extra Point Library in exchange. Y’all have my email.

Here are the reported team baseball budgets for College Baseball Tournament participants:

School	Budget (in $)
Tennessee	13,419,669
Texas	11,534,440
LSU	9,989,478
Arkansas	9,159,809
Ole Miss	9,124,735
Florida	6,831,221
Alabama	6,689,112
Mississippi State	6,564,901
Clemson	6,471,782
Auburn	6,448,543
Oklahoma	5,782,463
Louisville	5,591,981

List continued, along with the softball data and some #takeaways, after the jump:

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When news came out in the summer of 2024 that Stanford ace NiJaree Canady was transferring, the softball world was shocked. The now junior ace has accumulated unheard of statistics as well as numerous awards during her short time in college softball including 2025 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, Big 12 Pitcher of the Year, First Team All-Big 12 Selection and a Top 3 Finalist for the Honda Sport Award for Softball.

Now softball’s biggest name is taking her new team Texas Tech to the Women’s College World Series championship series for the first time in program history. For Texas Tech, they made history not only with their journey to the championship series, but also the investment to make it happen.

The Red Raiders awarded Canady a $1,050,024 NIL deal for this season. The deal included $1 million in NIL money, $50,000 for living expenses, and $24 to represent her collegiate number. No softball athlete has ever reached a number this high.

To say that Canady was worth the figure would be an understatement. Canady is a dual threat as she not only is the ace in the circle for the Red Raiders, but also one of their most lethal hitters.

Head coach Gerry Glasco was well aware of Canady’s talent when he met with her and talked about her joining him at Texas Tech in his first season with the Red Raiders. He said, “We’re talking about a once-in-a-generation player that’s already made a name all over America. She’s a folk hero in our sport, and she’s a sophomore [at the time].” He continued, “We look at it as they deserve it just as much (as male athletes). She worked so hard to be the No. 1 pitcher in the country. … I left that meeting and thought, this is who I would love to put a lot of effort into because of who she is.”

This season, Canady is batting .297 with a slugging percentage of .638 and an on-base percentage of 1.121. Additionally, Canady has recorded 34 RBIs, 30 hits, six doubles, and 11 home runs in her 101 at bats.

On the mound, Canady is a machine with a posted 0.90 earned run average, conceded only 29 earned runs, 118 his, 44 walks, and 304 strikeouts in 226 innings. Her ERA is ranked first in the nation for Division I , seventh in shutouts, third in total strikeouts and strikeout to walk ratio, and ninth in strikeouts per seven innings.

As the Red Raiders begin their championship series play on Wednesday, June 4 at 8 pm EST on ESPN the team will count on Canady’s star power to shine through and bring home the program’s first ever title.

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