Cal Poly Athletics announced Monday the establishment of the Players Trust, allowing Cal Poly boosters and alumni to donate to athletic programs directly.
These investments take the form of scholarships, Alston awards and incentive-based scholarship supplements. Each athletic program has a separate initiative.
The Players Trust provides opportunities for student athletes to increase financial opportunities while at Cal Poly.
It incentivizes athletes to stay at Cal Poly by allowing more revenue to be earned for themselves in addition to their athletic scholarships and NIL pursuits.
This move is another response to the changing landscapes of revenue in collegiate athletics and the House vs. NCAA settlement.
While Cal Poly uses its academic reputation and optimal living location to attract athletes, money and revenue have and will continue to play a significant role in persuading players.
Athletes are gaining opportunities to go to universities with larger athletics programs that can pay them larger sums. This puts mid-major schools such as Cal Poly and many others in the Big West at a disadvantage in recruiting and retaining top athletes.
If the settlement is approved, it would introduce roster cuts for programs across the board instead of scholarship limits. Cal Poly would also have to pay $500,000 in settlements over the next decade in backpay to the settlement, according to Oberhelman in a video statement.
Cal Poly has taken other leaps of action in response to the settlement to preserve financial stability. The university discontinued the men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs, non-revenue sports that do not provide direct profit to the university.
Non-revenue sports will continue to be impacted as financial hardships will take hold following the approval of the House vs. NCAA Settlement.
As the approval still awaits, Cal Poly will continue to make decisions in anticipation and prepare their budgets for the upcoming years. If the settlement were approved, the proposed changes would go into effect on July 1, according to CBS Sports.