It seems there are still a few confused on how the house settlement works.
@vu72 The roster limits only come into play after every rostered athlete pre House has left. They are grandfathered into the process until then.
@valpopal The school will pay the back pay regardless of opting in vs opting out. The back pay is being paid as a 60%-40% model. 60% of the money will be paid directly by the NCAA, and 40% will be paid by the schools via a reduction of reward money for competing in NCAA tournaments.
One thing to note. Some teams in the MVC who have opted in, notably Drake, has decided to go with the model of setting up in house "NIL Collectives" for supporters to donate to. Drake likely did this as they, much like Valpo, are worried about the implications of paying players out of their own pockets. One important factor of this is the fact that previously, NIL money was not tax deductible, and boosters relied on the good faith of those who set up the collective to pay out. Now, if the collectives move in house, this allows for the donations to become tax deductible, and for donors to donate directly to the school, which could be viewed as more reliable.
Sounds like Valpo will be there to leach in on conference revenues. I get why Valpo opted out, but being the lone member is certainly not a good impression.
You have to consider if the MVC conference regrets Valpo an invite to join the MVC based the situation today.
Why would the MVC regret it?
Simple. In many facets, Valpo is not contributing their fair share to become a quality member of the MVC. Valpo does not have the funding, but the university can advertise themselves as a MVC member and take their share of revenue without an equitable contribution. Athletically Valpo has been the most frugal to contribute, and in the current situation they have to be. But I would assume today there are leaders in the MVC, talking off the record of course, wondering if they made the right decision.
Opting out will make it worse for Valpo to compete in the MVC, but they will be pleased to take the revenue share check.
How will it make it worse for the program to compete in the MVC? All your doing is continuing a typical sing song run down of the school and it's sports programs based on nothing factual.
Do you not see where the rest of the conference is going to promote their recruiting advantage? The entire conference but Valpo is opting in, and this will put Valpo at a disadvantage and makes them appear not as committed to conference success. I understand and respect the decision Valpo made regarding this, but you have to wonder what the rest of the conference is thinking.
Whatever recruiting advantage there is for other programs is already there. Opting in or out won't change that. It's a good thing to boo hoo about I guess.
@valpopal The school will pay the back pay regardless of opting in vs opting out. The back pay is being paid as a 60%-40% model. 60% of the money will be paid directly by the NCAA, and 40% will be paid by the schools via a reduction of reward money for competing in NCAA tournaments.
I understand. I simply meant to question whether Valparaiso's contribution would be better defined as tournament funds not received rather than money regularly paid out. There is a slight difference in budgeting since the amount of tournament reward money could vary from year to year. That ambiguity is why I wrote it would be "unclear how much VU likely will be responsible for contributing each of the next ten years."
@valpopal The school will pay the back pay regardless of opting in vs opting out. The back pay is being paid as a 60%-40% model. 60% of the money will be paid directly by the NCAA, and 40% will be paid by the schools via a reduction of reward money for competing in NCAA tournaments.
I understand. I simply meant to question whether Valparaiso's contribution would be better defined as tournament funds not received rather than money regularly paid out. There is a slight difference in budgeting since the amount of tournament reward money could vary from year to year. That ambiguity is why I wrote it would be "unclear how much VU likely will be responsible for contributing each of the next ten years."
From researching into the settlement, the P4 are the ones who are having to pay out of pocket. The mid majors and low majors are only on the hook for what comes out of the tournament shares. Which VU stands to lose regardless of opt in/opt out status. I would say the "tournament funds not received" fits that mold perfectly. I also recently saw an article from Blo No news networks estimating that ISU stands to lose 500k in NCAA money from opting in. I think there is a path for VU and other small private to opt in with the Drake model of in house collectives.
Weird that there still has not been an official statement from the school on their house settlement status. Today is the last day to decide.
It could be a case of the only announcement being necessary for opting in. Silence means opting out.
In my experience Valpo doesn't make any announcements about anything ever. Standard policy is to keep the fan base in the dark on all matter off the actual court.
https://twitter.com/RossDellenger/status/1940133285905961189
If this is truly the case, then I'm not sure exactly what the path forward is for Valpo to be competitive in any way, shape or form.
If this is truly the case, then I'm not sure exactly what the path forward is for Valpo to be competitive in any way, shape or form.
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To answer that question, you need to understand how much mid and small major schools will actually pay student-athletes. Opting in does not dictate whether and how much you pay student-athletes. It will be interesting to see how much MVC schools choose to pay student-athletes. My guess is this will be much smaller than some are assuming and that this will be driven by donations (which should not be tax deductible).
From what I'm hearing. A lot of mid majors opted in to do what Drake did. Consolidate their NIL collectives in house to make them more attractive to their potential donors. Opting is what 84 described
If there is no minimum required spending level when you "opt in," then what is the reason to "opt out?"
@realist77 Previously. The decision to opt out was because of the ambiguous nature of the house settlement. People weren't sure as to whether students would be grandfathered into the process of roster limits, or if there was a minimum spending limit. ISUb opted out for these reasons, but, post settlement, flipped their stance because some aspects were laid out.
I agree with you however. With the language of the house settlement, there is no reason to opt out at this point. Most have outlined the football roster issue. However, according to the athletics website, valpo football rosters did not hit the 105 player cap pre settlement. So unless there are athletes not listed, or Waddle went on a massive signing spree, there shouldn't be an issue there. All NIL deals must still go through the NILGO Clearing house as well. So really. There isnt much of anything different between opting in vs opting out other than the roster limits
FOR OTHERS WHO ARE STILL CONFUSED, HERE IS ROSS DELLENGERS ARTICLE FROM LAST MONTH
valpo football rosters did not hit the 105 player cap pre settlement
Perhaps, but the team photo shows 118. What about other sports? Baseball, soccer?
valpo football rosters did not hit the 105 player cap pre settlement
Perhaps, but the team photo shows 118. What about other sports? Baseball, soccer?
Roster limit is 34 for baseball and 25 for softball
Baseball was over that limit with 36 and softball was just under with 24.
I was also a little off in my numbers and football was just over. Didn't account for duplicate numbers when I skimmed earlier. (~110 was what I counted. They are listed by jersey so I had to count manually)
I also skimmed MVC fans and apparently INDSU AD was on the radio claiming all MVC schools (Including VU have opted in). Might be worth investigating
here is a link to all the new roster sizes post house for those opting in
https://www.ncsasports.org/blog/ncaa-scholarship-roster-limits-2024
https://twitter.com/RossDellenger/status/1940458253852594190
For more context. The DSA list is the list created to grandfather players into a program who would be considered over the roster limit. (In basketball terms. Joe Vick and Justus *could* not required, but could be put on that list to get under the 15 limit)
This link was discovered by the detective work of Jeff Bidwell of Morning in the Valley
https://valpoathletics.com/sports/2025/7/1/housesettlement-faq.aspx
This link was discovered by the detective work of Jeff Bidwell of Morning in the Valley
https://valpoathletics.com/sports/2025/7/1/housesettlement-faq.aspx
It certainly appears my source was either wrong, or had outdated information. I was a staunch anti opt in, and still am in a way (I cringe seeing these massive cuts to staff and projected deficits). BUT I think how Drake is managing is doable for a school like Valpo. If there is an house fund created I pledge to help fund it.
I still dont like the future roster caps after grandfathered in kids are gone.... But for now as mentioned it wouldnt have an impact as they can grandfather already rostered players.
