Sport Sustainability

The modified recruiting plan includes a swimming and diving proposal that delays start dates for communication and in-person recruiting until the conclusion of the PSA's junior year of high school. It also suggests placing limits on the number of official visits provided by the school, and establishing a swimming and diving recruiting calendar to provide a healthier and more sustainable recruiting model that allows PSAs and school leaders to make more informed decisions.

Rationale

This recommendation seeks to reverse negative consequences resulting from NCAA Proposal 2018-934, which was intended to curtail early recruiting but accelerated the recruiting process and nearly doubled the annual recruiting cohort size. The proposed changes allow coaches, student-athletes and prospects to focus on the academic school year and competitive season, rather than being distracted by early recruiting pressures. This delayed recruiting approach benefits the sport given the later athletic maturation of swimming and diving athletes, and it would help alleviate concerns including coaches committing to PSAs and PSAs committing to schools prematurely.

Impact

The budgetary impact of these efforts will vary given disparities in recruiting budgets across Division I programs. It is reasonable to expect that a program would annually save 10-30% of its operating costs by reducing campus visits, and an additional 20-40% of its operating costs by containing the footprint to one recruiting class instead of two. The shortened recruiting period will allow current student-athletes more access to their coaches, as well as more time to focus on their academics and training, rather than hosting PSAs. Finally, a later recruiting timeline will enable PSAs more time to make informed college decisions.

Flexible engagement with prospective and elite engagement male gymnasts through deregulated recruiting rules around clubs, tryouts, camps/clinics and national team access would ease operations, improve athlete engagement and allow collective resources to be leveraged. These changes would allow varsity programs to partner with youth programs and USA Gymnastics to share facilities, streamline expenses and generate revenue through expanded camps/clinics. Such efforts would also allow for implementing a USAG regional development program, which - if conducted in partnership with varsity programs - could aid in creative training arrangements, event opportunities and coaching development.

Rationale

Currently, NCAA recruiting and engagement rules are widely applied to maintain competitive equity across all sports. During the 2020-21 academic year, the USOPC, USAG, College Gymnastics Association and University of Colorado Colorado Springs conducted an economic study and found a statistically moderate (0.40) impact of recruiting expenses on team performance. The study also found many varsity programs leverage their club/camp structures to support operational costs. Thus, the men's gymnastics coaches and researchers believe these findings support the recommendation to relax recruiting rules as current restrictions hinder sustainability.

Impact

The recommended changes would allow programs to be more creative to spur sport growth by permitting youth to engage earlier in the men’s college and national team pathways. The fiscal impact of these efforts will vary given disparities across operations (camp revenues range from $0-$279,000 annually and club revenue ranges from $0-$266,760 annually); however, deregulation can help men’s gymnastics coaches and administrators operate within their campus structures and construct meaningful partnerships within their communities. Additionally, more interaction may increase the fanbase of the school program. Finally, PSAs would have more opportunities to advance their skills by training alongside college and/or elite athletes.

• The sport sustainability group crafted proposed legislation in swimming and diving and men’s gymnastics to provide flexibility to manage their operations in a customized, efficient and creative manner. View the draft swimming and diving legislation: PDF | Google Docs. View the draft men’s gymnastics legislation: PDF | Google Docs.
• As part of the MGCSC, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs College of Business conducted an independent financial landscape analysis of the operations and performance of collegiate men’s gymnastics teams. View the UCCS men’s gymnastics study: PDF | Google Docs.
• The College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America conducted research around potential recruiting changes to understand and quantify their impact on the student-athlete experience, time burdens on athletes and coaches, and operational efficiencies. View the CSCAA report: PDF | Google Docs.