Military considers college athletic scholarships for service time
- Kendall Baker, author of Axios Sports
Illustration: Annelise Capossela and Shoshana Gordon/Axios
The U.S. military is mulling a plan that would fund college athletic scholarships in exchange for mandatory service, Sportico reports.
Why it matters: The initiative could solve two key issues: inefficient recruiting within the armed forces, and financial unease in college athletics, where non-revenue sports face increasing cuts.
By the numbers: The Pentagon has requested a record $773 billion budget for 2023, which includes $1.32 billion for recruiting and advertising, and billions more for basic training.
- By comparison, FBS schools reported spending $653 million in scholarship costs outside of football and basketball in 2020-21.
- Nearly 300 NCAA sports programs have been eliminated or suspended in the COVID era, which wreaked financial havoc on athletic departments.
Details: The idea is the brainchild of Dave Maloney, a former Auburn track athlete whose company, Orchestra Macrosystems, is an Air Force contractor.
- Under his plan, the Department of Defense would offer to replace school-funded athletic scholarships for every sport other than football and basketball.
- Those athletes would have no obligations while in school, but would be committed to a yet-to-be-determined amount of service once their college careers conclude.
The backdrop: There are already options for high school athletes interested in both college sports and military service, including competing at service academies and going through ROTC.
- That said, service academies can only provide a limited number of opportunities for student-athletes, and the rigors of ROTC make it difficult to combine with sports.
- Of the 27,000 Army ROTC cadets on campuses each year, roughly 500 to 700 are NCAA athletes, per the Army's recruiting arm.
State of play: Maloney says he and his paid advisers — including retired Army and Air Force generals — have discussed the plan with high-ranking military officials.
- In a September memo that circulated around Washington, D.C., it was dubbed the Scholar-Athlete Intelligence and Leadership Program.
- Yes, but: The proposal has not made similar inroads within college sports. The NCAA told Sportico it was unaware of it.