Update 4/25 at 8:43. The NCAA released a statement denying the waiver request, which is outlined below.

“Higher education is facing unique challenges, and the Division I leadership believes it’s appropriate to examine areas in which rules can be relaxed or amended to provide flexibility for schools and conferences,” Council chair M. Grace Calhoun, athletics director at Pennsylvania, said in the statement. “We will prioritize student-athlete well-being and opportunities balanced with reducing costs associated with administering college sports, but a blanket waiver of sport sponsorship requirements is not in keeping with our values and will not be considered.”

On a day when college soccer was potentially expanding, the exact opposite could be in the cards. 

NCAA is discussing an emergency legislative relief to reduce or wait several Division I membership requirements, including the minimum number of sports a school must sponsor. 

For a school to be eligible for the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the school must sponsor 16 sports. Division I schools must field 14 teams. 

With the relief, schools would be able to drop down from that requirement thus putting non-revenue generating sports on the chopping block, which could potentially include men’s and women’s soccer programs. 

University of Cincinnati already cut their men’s soccer program earlier this month, which was attributed to the “profound challenges and widespread uncertainty." 

The pending discussion started in early April when the commissioners of the Group of Five conferences - the American Athletic, Conference USA, the Mid-American, Mountain West, and Sun Belt - sen a letter to NCAA President Mark Emmert. 

“In order to provide NCAA Division I institutions flexibility in addressing the challenges for the foreseeable future, we request temporary relief from several regulatory requirements for a period of up to four years,” the commissioners wrote in the letter. “A blanket waiver for relief will provide institutions the ability to make prudent and necessary decisions for the financial well-being of the institution.”

ESPN reported on Wednesday that the 22 other conferences joined in their support of the letter. The Power Five conferences have not supported the move. 

The Intercollegiate Coach Association Coalition (ICAC), which was organized in the Spring of 2020, penned a letter in opposition of the move. 

“Reducing the minimum sports sponsorship requirement that would open the door to eliminating sports should not be an option,” the ICAC stated in the letter to Emmert. “We are all in this together, and we are ready, eager, and willing to partner with the NCAA to find creative solutions for the challenges to come.”

The United Soccer Coaches is one of the 18 associations that is part of the ICAC. 

The discussion about the legislative relief is schedule to take part this week during the NCAA meetings, which was originally the date scheduled for the vote for the 21st Century Model but has since been put on hold.