FEBRUARY 28, 2025 | composed by STEVE ULRICH

Welcome to D3 Lacrosse, devoted to NCAA Division III men’s and women’s lacrosse

🥳  TGIF. Let’s say goodbye to February and hello, March.

Headlines
🏈 Will Power 4 Take Their Ball and Leave?
🥍 Looking at the Growth of DIII Men’s Lacrosse
💰️ A Prisoner’s Dilemma
👀 Looking Ahead to the Weekend
📺️ Streaming Guide

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TOP STORY
1. Is The ‘Great Split’ Coming?

by Ross Dellenger, Yahoo! Sports

“Last Friday, a day before his university hosted Michigan in a Big Ten football game in College Park, Maryland athletic director Damon Evans sat before a group of college athletic stakeholders inside a conference room at the Marriott Marquis giving a direct, at times blunt, and sometimes jarring assessment of college sports and its future.

A sitting Big Ten AD vocalized publicly what’s been privately whispered for months: Within five years — and most say much sooner — the Power Five conference schools will operate from under a new governance structure that features an athlete revenue-sharing model, a shift often described by many within the industry as “The Great Split.”

“I do believe five years from now that we will be at a point where we are sharing revenue with student-athletes,” Evans told leaders of the Knight Commission, a group of mostly former and current college athletic administrators promoting educational reforms in college sports.”

» Field Awareness. “The Great Split is no longer a far-fetched idea or a long-shot theory. It is instead a looming reality in light of legal challenges facing college athletics, most notably the costly House antitrust case against the NCAA and the power conferences.”

» Reality Check. “Duke and Notre Dame athletic director Kevin White spoke more to Yahoo Sports about the models, some of which would have the power conference schools “leave and take their resources with them,” he said. That’s something he believes will negatively impact college athletics’ broad-based, Olympic sport system. “For someone like me, that is devastating,” he said. “It’s beyond devastating — it’s nuclear.”

» Be Smart. “But it is the House case that may drive the final wedge between the haves and have-nots of college sports. The Power Five shares CFP and NCAA tournament revenue with other schools. A dividing line is forming between the schools and conferences that can and cannot afford to contribute to payments if the House case is settled or lost.”

» Go Deeper

FEATURES
2. Looking at the Growth of Division III Men’s Lacrosse

by Steve Dittmore

“Using publicly available filings with the Office of Postsecondary Education’s Equity in Athletics Data Analysis (EADA) tool, it is possible to compare NCAA Division III men’s (and next week, women’s) lacrosse programs to see what, if any, growth is occurring in the sport.

To assess this, I compared the 2018-19 academic year (2019 season) and the 2022-23 academic year (2023 season) as it is the most recent filing. Data from the 2020 COVID season is skewed as operating expenses were considerably less due to canceled games. So, this is as close a pre-COVID look as we can get.

Specifically, I looked at three pieces of data for this analysis: average roster size, average operating expense per participant, and the average operating expense per team. Operating expenses are defined in the EADA report as: “all expenses an institution incurs attributable to home, away, and neutral-site intercollegiate athletic contests (commonly known as "game-day expenses"), for (A) Lodging, meals, transportation, uniforms, and equipment for coaches, team members, support staff (including, but not limited to team managers and trainers), and others; and (B) Officials.” In other words, nearly everything but coach salaries and athletic-related aid.

The data is in the table below.

Multiplying the number of teams in each season by the average roster size reveals an overall increase in participation of 707.34 total men’s lacrosse players from 2019 to 2023.

Roster size in 2019 ranged from 14 (n=3 schools) to 70 (n=1). In 2023, roster size ranged from a low of 12 (n=1) to a high of 66 (n=1). Thirty-nine schools reported 50 or more athletes on their roster in 2023, compared to nearly half (n=19) in 2019.

Operating expenses per team in 2018 ranged from just $3,463 (n=1) on the low end, to $302,582 (n=1) on the high end. In 2023, the low range of operating expenses per team was $4,672 (n=1) with a high end of $262,487 (n=1).

In 2019, 17 schools spent greater than $100,000 in operating expenses on men’s lacrosse, with only one school topping the $200,000 mark. In 2023, 44 schools spent more than $100,000, including three schools that topped the $200,000.

While the data shows clear growth in the sport across all measures, the sharp increase in the overall number of schools with operating expenses in excess of $100,000 (27 more schools in 2023 than in 2019) could be concerning, particularly for schools that do not have robust budgets.

Next week, I will run the same analysis for NCAA Division III Women’s Lacrosse.

NIL
3. Why the Race to Cut College Athlete Taxes Creates a Recruiting ‘Prisoner’s Dilemma’

by Amanda Christovich, Front Office Sports

“State lawmakers have discovered a potential weapon in the college sports recruiting arms race: NIL (name, image, and likeness) tax exemptions.

Throughout the past several months, legislators in Georgia, Alabama, and Illinois have introduced bills that would exempt NIL deals from state income taxes. Legislators in Louisiana are reportedly about to introduce a bill of their own. The goal, they hope, is to entice recruits to their flagship universities, both strengthening their rosters and potentially earning more money through more ticket sales.

But the potential pitfalls of such legislation could outweigh the benefits, according to two tax experts who spoke with Front Office Sports. Giving athletes a tax break means states would ultimately sign away their ability to earn extra tax revenue without any meaningful impact in recruiting or increased athletics earnings.”

» Field Awareness. “NIL earnings have become a key factor in players’ decisions of where to enroll or transfer—and they’re expected to become even more important in the potential revenue-sharing era. But they aren’t the only factor.”

» Prisoner’s Dilemma. “The main reason why tax incentives for players aren’t an effective tool is what University of Central Arkansas economics professor Jacob Bundrick describes as a “prisoner’s dilemma.” If multiple states begin introducing NIL tax breaks, it ceases to become a competitive edge for schools.”

» The Final Word. "“Most economists would say that this is bad tax policy.” says Bundrick.

» Keep Reading

AROUND THE NATION (M)
4. Looking at the Weekend

Three top-20 matchups dot the weekend men’s schedule as #2 Salisbury travels to #18 Lynchburg, #9 Middlebury visits #16 Amherst as the NESCAC opens play, and #11 Gettysburg heads south to take on #19 Stevenson.

AROUND THE NATION (W)
5. Looking at the Weekend

There are four top-25 contests to headline a full weekend of DIII women’s lacrosse, as #1 Middlebury hosts #21 Amherst, #3 Franklin & Marshall welcomes #20 York across the Susquehanna, #7 Colby is home against #8 Wesleyan, and #9 Gettysburg entertains the #4 Generals of Washington and Lee.

VIEWING
6. Weekend Streaming

Wondering what matchups you should be watching this weekend? Here you go with our streaming guide for Friday-Sunday, Feb. 28-March 2.

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