USF watching and preparing as the NCAA athletics landscape shifts

Yahoo Sports reporter Ross Dellinger painted a stark picture of the future for NCAA sports – particularly football – at any school not currently in a Power 4 conference.

That, of course, would include USF, at least for now.

The story was headlined: "With the future of college sports uncertain , one thing is clear: An official and permanent split of NCAA Division I is here.”

His report focused on a recent meeting in Naples, where representatives from the Big Ten, SEC, Big 12, and ACC joined NCAA President Charlie Baker to discuss how those conferences are going to run the show from now on.

‘Power schools are gearing up to share as much as $22 million a year with their athletes,” he wrote.

“But what does that mean for everyone else? The other 28 leagues of Division I consist of more than 60 Group of Five football programs, 120-plus FCS schools, and nearly 100 additional basketball-only universities.”

Green, Gold, and Bold shared that story with USF Vice President and Director of Athletics Michael Kelly and asked for his reaction. His reply acknowledged the uncertainty of the situation while stressing that USF is as well-prepared as possible to deal with what comes next.”

“There are still a lot of specifics still to be determined and shared, but this fault line, as I like to call it, for the future of Division 1 sports is upon us. Many of the current Power 4 conference institutions are probably on one side of it,” he said.

“Many of the current Group of Five conferences are probably right on the fault line, and all the rest are probably on the other side of it. For USF, while it is an urgent time, I look at it as a time of immense opportunity, and we are looking to seize that opportunity with all of the investments and aggressive we have been making.”

He pointed to USF’s major investments in a $340 million on-campus football stadium, scheduled to open in 2027. That’s on top of a $22 million indoor performance center — paid for with donations, including a $5.1 million gift from J.D. Porter and family. Kelly believes those factors, plus other major upgrades, will put USF facilities on par with the power schools.

“USF should not be left out just because we weren’t born yet, back when some schools were invited as charter members of a conference in the back room of some country club in the 1950s or something,” he said.

“The current levels of investment and success should still matter, as should the future prospects of some schools like USF.”

The athletic upgrades are not USF’s only selling point. USF and the University of Florida are the only public schools in the state with membership in the prestigious Association of American Universities, which acknowledges academic excellence.

The Tampa Bay television market is No. 12 in the country

“We are Power 4 in every aspect beyond the technical reality of being in a conference currently labeled as such,” Kelly said. “We invest at the top of the AAC. We already have some of the finest facilities at any level, and once the stadium and operations buildings are completed by 2027, we will truly have one of the best, newest, and most efficient athletic districts in the country.

“We are excited about this new permissive era emerging in college sports and are ready to be bold. It is our time to step up and seize any possible opportunities in this seismic landscape.”

Anyone who says at this point they know for certain what will happen with college realignment is just guessing. This much is undeniable, though. Schools left out of the Power 4 conferences will have a much tougher time maintaining the levels of athletics many of them have now.

“Multiple commissioners of the “Other 28” told Yahoo Sports this week that they do not expect many of their schools to opt into the concept of sharing revenue with athletes,” Yahoo reported.

“Financially, they cannot support that, they say. After all, most schools in those conferences rely heavily on institutional support and student fees to keep afloat their sports teams, most of which do not turn a profit or generate very little revenue.”

What will this new world order look like? It’s tough to say sure.

However, the Yahoo report captured the sentiment of many schools on the outside with this observation.

“Though still in the process of development, the governance framework can simply be summed up in five words, says one FCS league commissioner: “Let the big dogs eat.”

The big dogs are hungry.