College Rowing has Fundamentally Changed

Starting in the early 1990s, the shift to international athletes started. At that point, however, these athletes were “ringers”–hardly the norm. By the mid 2000s, 25-30% of the top IRA program rosters were international. At the 2025 IRA Championship, 80% of the rowers in the Grand Final at the IRA were international athletes, and at programs like Yale, Cal, and Washington, 60% of the ENTIRE rosters are international athletes. Making these programs incredibly deep with very experienced athletes. These athletes come in as nearly “finished products”–they know how to row, have international racing experience, and are sure bets, unlike novices

Following the “House” settlement (June 2025), Wisconsin—like all Big Ten schools—decided to participate in a new revenue sharing agreement and make direct payments to athletes (this is separate from NIL). That’s correct, the Wisconsin Athletic Department now pays athletes directly. An additional important fact is that the Wisconsin Athletic Department is one of the few programs in the Power Four to be self-funded, meaning, the athletic department took no money from the University to fund all the varsity teams at the school. This was made possible by the profit generated by the football and basketball programs. Now, the Athletic Department will be spending $20.5 million to pay athletes. This amounts to a $20M budget cut to the Athletic Department which is forcing them to reduce funding for non-revenue sports.

In a historic first, the NCAA and the nation’s Power Five conferences reached a deal to pay their athletes. The general terms of a settlement will see the NCAA pay nearly $2.8 billion in damages over 10 years to nearly 14,000 players. It also creates a new system that allows schools to use up to $21 million a year to pay student-athletes. Geoff Bennett discussed the deal with Pat Forde.

As part of the House settlement, NCAA teams can offer unlimited scholarships to athletes but must cap roster sizes. With this change the Wisconsin Athletic Department put a cap on a few sports not formally governed by the NCAA, including Men’s Rowing. That roster cap is 40, which severely limits our ability to turn walk ons into National Champions. Now we need a much higher percentage of athletes to be impactful from Day 1, while still finding a way to cultivate our developmental (walk-on) talent.