ASU Goes All In on Baseball
Arizona State University (ASU) has made a bold commitment to its baseball program by offering the full 34 scholarships allowed under the new NCAA settlement. This decision sets ASU apart as one of the schools investing heavily in a particular sport, a trend that is expected to play out differently across the college athletics landscape.
Under the House v. NCAA settlement, schools now have greater flexibility in how they allocate scholarships and resources, leading to strategic decisions about which programs to prioritize. While ASU has decided to fully fund its baseball program, other schools may take different approaches, choosing to go all in on other sports or spreading their resources more evenly.
This shift presents a fascinating challenge: predicting which schools will prioritize which sports. Unlike football and basketball, where top programs almost universally maximize their scholarship limits, Olympic and non-revenue sports will see greater variance in institutional investment. Schools with strong traditions in particular sports—such as wrestling at Iowa, gymnastics at Oklahoma, or baseball at LSU—may decide to allocate the full scholarship allotment, while others may opt to remain more conservative.
The potential discrepancies in funding could also lead to new competitive advantages and disadvantages. Schools that commit to fully funding their scholarships in baseball, for example, will have a distinct edge over programs that do not. This could further concentrate talent among a smaller pool of elite programs, creating a wider gap between contenders and those left behind.
For prospective student-athletes, this means the recruiting landscape is evolving. Players will need to consider not just a program’s history and coaching staff, but also whether their chosen school is making a full financial commitment to their sport. The days of assuming a Power Five program will automatically be competitive in every sport may be coming to an end, as universities pick and choose where they want to compete at the highest level.
Arizona State’s decision to fully fund its baseball scholarships signals an aggressive push to elevate its program. The coming years will reveal which other schools follow suit—and which sports emerge as the new focal points of collegiate athletics.
