The Utah Utes announced earlier this week that they were discontinuing their women’s beach volleyball program after this academic year.
The release from Utah noted that the Utes reached the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament, which just concluded. The program started as an intercollegiate sport in 2017 and is barely 10 years old.
In the release announcing the move, athletic director Mark Harlan didn’t cite the House vs. NCAA settlement as a direct reason for the decision. He said it was an “extremely difficult decision.”
“We looked at the landscape of intercollegiate beach volleyball and the future opportunities of our student-athletes,” Harlan said in the release. “Currently, there are only 12 beach volleyball programs among power conference institutions, with little evidence of the sport expanding at this time. With the sport’s growth stunted, and without the home facilities with amenities that allow us to host championship-level events, we are not providing the world-class experience that we seek to provide to our student-athletes.”
Utah’s web site lists a roster of 18 players.
The House vs. NCAA settlement, which could be back before U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken soon, is a sweeping settlement that will allow schools to opt into sharing revenue with student-athletes, up to $20.5 million. Much of that revenue sharing is in the form of fully funded scholarships.
While football and basketball currently have fully funded scholarships, most Olympic sports don’t. Under the settlement, all scholarships would be fully funded.
The settlement would also impose roster limits for all sports. For instance, football’s limit will be 105. Basketball’s limit will be 15.
Per Yahoo Sports, the new beach volleyball roster limit is set to be 19. Under former rules it was six, as in six scholarships that could be distributed across the roster.
By eliminating volleyball, Utah is not only eliminating the sport, the Utes are also eliminating 19 potential scholarships that needed to be funded. It also drops the number of sports for the university down to 19 men’s and women’s teams for NCAA competition.
While it doesn’t appear to be a response to the House settlement, it will help Utah’s ability to share revenue across the spectrum of its sports. As a power conference school, the Utes are expected to share revenue at the $20.5 million limit.
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