College softball coaches fear the arrival of athlete pay could slow the sport’s growth

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma slugger Jocelyn Alo energized college softball two years ago, en route to becoming the career home run leader, and the sport’s visibility has increased since then.

Six of the nine sessions of this year’s Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City set attendance records. Game 1 of the Championship series set an attendance record which was broken the following day for Game 2. A total of 12,324 watched at Devon Park last Thursday as Oklahoma defeated Texas to win record fourth consecutive national title.

ESPN said the World Series Finals games were the most-watched on record. Both games averaged 2 million viewers, with Game 2 peaking at 2.5 million. The championship series saw a 24% increase in viewership over the previous year.

Those who built college softball are encouraged by the progress.

“I think the sport has done an incredible job of increasing viewership,” said UCLA coach Kelly Inouye-Perez, who led the Bruins to two of their record 12 national titles. “We entered the living rooms. People fell in love with the sport. There are conferences that have dedicated huge resources, funds, facilities, coaching salaries – all kinds of things to be able to support the sport.”

Still, there is concern about the future of the sport.

The NCAA recent agreement with major conferences Resolving federal antitrust litigation paves the way for schools to begin paying athletes directly, a move that could have major consequences for sports beyond football and men’s basketball. Even with softball’s steady growth, some coaches worry that money could be diverted from their sport and threaten its stability. Some worry that schools could abandon the sport entirely.

“We all hope this doesn’t hurt softball, that’s for sure,” said Texas coach Mike White, whose school has one of the largest budgets in college athletics. “We are in a growth phase, along with several other women’s sports that have taken off at this time. We’re certainly afraid of (changes hurting softball), that’s for sure. We don’t want that to happen. We hope every school sees the benefit of keeping money in softball and keeping it a premier sport.”

According to NCAA statistics and databases, 295 Division I schools offered softball in 2023 and there were 6,737 players, up slightly from the 6,452 athletes in the same number of programs in 2019.

Inouye-Perez said she is confident her program will be good, but is unsure about others in softball and beyond.

“I’m not afraid that the sport will die, but I will say that I feel bad because I don’t believe that the number of teams will be able to sustain what’s coming in the future,” she said. “I don’t know. That’s potentially what could happen because we’ve had conversations about understanding the impact of what could happen, knowing that every school would have to find a way to fund all of the Olympic sports.”

Oklahoma softball star Tiare Jennings said she is happy that softball players will soon have another avenue to get paid other than making sponsorship money through name, image and likeness deals. She said former Oklahoma greats like Lauren Chamberlain, the former career home run leader, should have had a chance to make money when they played. Jennings recently surpassed Chamberlain for third all-time with 98 career home runs.

“It’s important when they get out of college just to have a foundation, to have something for their future families, for themselves — just to have some security blanket when you get out of college, knowing that you can invest or start a business, things like that. – to just kickstart your life,” she said.

Florida coach Tim Walton said he hopes the changes benefit the softball players, but is concerned some could be cut to take care of the best.

“My biggest fear has long been how sustainable our model will be for all sports, coaches and programs across the country,” he said. “That’s my biggest concern. I believe we are heading down a path that will likely be much more equivalent for male and female athletes. But how many of them? I think that’s the biggest question I would have.”

There are also doubts about future of sports scholarships.

As of now, schools can hand out 11.7 scholarships to a 32-player baseball roster, for example, and the number for a softball team is 12. Walton believes revenue sharing is the right thing to do. do, but fears that this could lead to the elimination of so-called Olympic sports.

USA Softball Executive Director Craig Cress is watching because his program comes from the collegiate ranks and he wants the sport to be in good shape as it prepares for a return to the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. He said the changes will be good if decision makers look at the bigger picture.

“I just think this is going to be done the right way,” he said. “There are always ways to legislate or ensure that things are being done correctly. And I think this is just another way that athletes can benefit from this. So we as administrators and organizations really just need to figure out how we’re going to do this to make sure…that we’re doing it the right way.”

Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso believes the guards will do the right thing.

“I feel really good about where our sport is,” she said. “I feel really good about the momentum of our sport through viewership, attendance and so on. I just don’t know enough about what’s going on right now. But I have to trust that it is in the hands of those who will make good decisions for our student-athletes and for athletics in general.”

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