To the topic of Parity in wrestling

[Truzzcat]

I thought that was a cool thread I could have posted this in there but thought it warranted a new one. An argument was made that NIL has helped parity in football which I agree with. @Husker_Du just put out new rankings and I was taking a look at the p4p list. Of the top 20 p4p guys 7 schools are represented with one wrestler not committed (Melvin Miller)

PSU- 1,2,11
Iowa- 3,10
OKST- 4,5,9,13,15,19
Cornell- 6,7
Missouri- 8
V-TECH- 12,16,18
NCST - 14,20

Michigan is not on here and they are very active in the portal for the big guys, and obviously ohio state generally has very strong recruiting classes just not as strong as of yet in 2025,2026.

Just something I noticed to me if you consider it from a football perspective these guys would probably all be considered 5stars. It is not very representative of to me of Parity if you have 7 of 77 schools landing every 5 star. If you add in Ohio state and Michigan because of portal ability or recent historical recruiting you would have 9 of 77 or 11.7%.

[Gene Mills Fan]

It would be crazy;  have the 77 teams have a HS wrestler draft!!!  hahaha   who cares where the kid wants to go! We want parity!

[CHROMEBIRD]

It'll be interesting to see what happens with Oklahoma in the years to come. Their athletics department has tons of SEC media money pouring in, much much more than what the non-SEC & B1G programs make, so I'm curious to see how much of it trickles down to wrestling once the pay-for-play dust settles.

[Ohio Elite]

14 minutes ago, CHROMEBIRD said:

It'll be interesting to see what happens with Oklahoma in the years to come. Their athletics department has tons of SEC media money pouring in, much much more than what the non-SEC & B1G programs make, so I'm curious to see how much of it trickles down to wrestling once the pay-for-play dust settles.

As of right now, The BIG 10 makes the most media money..

https://www.foxsports.com/stories/college-football/big-ten-sec-top-conferences-revenue-athlete-pay-plan-horizon

[CHROMEBIRD]

Thanks. If you re-read my post though, I said OU makes a lot more than non-SEC and non-Big Ten schools. Also, I don't think the current revenue distribution #s are out but the amounts in that article are pre-consolidation and includes the Pac-12. The B1G has more schools splitting the pot than the SEC now, even with Oregon and Washington on a ramp-up revenue plan. Regardless of who makes the most though, there's clearly a big gap between B1G & SEC and everyone else. That gap will widen with the new CFP model in 2026.

[steamboat_charlie]

5 hours ago, CHROMEBIRD said:

It'll be interesting to see what happens with Oklahoma in the years to come. Their athletics department has tons of SEC media money pouring in, much much more than what the non-SEC & B1G programs make, so I'm curious to see how much of it trickles down to wrestling once the pay-for-play dust settles.

I'll save you the wait--zero additional dollars will be allocated to the OU wrestling program, whether we're in a new world "revenue share" regime, or the current NIL structure becomes status quo.  

[steamboat_charlie]

7 hours ago, Truzzcat said:

An argument was made that NIL has helped parity in football which I agree with. 

Is there really more parity?  That particular talking point picked up a lot of steam during the CFB season this year, but I think it was a reactionary take on the back of a few unexpected upsets. 

What was true before NIL remains true today--the only teams capable of winning a championship in football are the blue bloods.  Now, power has balanced out much more nationally across said blue bloods as the "pay gap" between the SEC and other conferences was eliminated, but I wouldn't exactly call that parity.  It's still the same teams at the top. 

What has definitely changed through NIL, and perhaps more importantly the transfer portal, is the speed with which a good coach and organized booster base can turn around a struggling program.  See: Indiana, Colorado.  

[666]

6 hours ago, CHROMEBIRD said:

It'll be interesting to see what happens with Oklahoma in the years to come. Their athletics department has tons of SEC media money pouring in, much much more than what the non-SEC & B1G programs make, so I'm curious to see how much of it trickles down to wrestling once the pay-for-play dust settles.

I wouldn't expect much. OU doesn't seem to have much commitment to it's wrestling program, the AD seems content with a mediocre program.  Plus football re venue will be down for the foreseeable future, their HC in football is pretty bad and it'll take a few years to rebuild the team after he's finally fired in 2 or 3 years. 

Edited 5 hours ago by 666