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The NCAA’s latest attempt to move Division-I men’s soccer to a fall-to-spring calendar is set to fail after hundreds of schools rejected the proposal. At least 241 schools voted against the two-semester plan approved by the NCAA’s Division I Cabinet in October, according to Goal, which first reported the news Thursday evening.
The NCAA declined to comment on Friday morning. Voting on the proposal closes at 5 p.m. ET, and schools can change their votes up until that point.
Men’s college soccer currently plays in the fall from August to December. Advocates for the new calendar argue that the current schedule doesn’t give players enough time to rest between matches and travel.
On Oct. 7, the DI Cabinet approved a plan that beginning in 2027–28 would see games run from August through Thanksgiving, then, after a winter break, resume in February, culminating in a spring championship. This calendar would align with European soccer as well as the new MLS format coming next year.
On the day of the vote, U.S. Soccer CEO JT Batson celebrated the decision, calling it “exciting news for the future of the American soccer pathway.”
The DI Cabinet didn’t reach enough support internally—it needed 75% approval—to pass the new proposal outright. That sparked a 30-day window for all D-I schools to vote against the plan, even schools that don’t sponsor a men’s varsity soccer team. The opposition needed two-thirds of D-I institutions, or 241 schools, to overturn the change. It hit that number Thursday night, according to multiple outlets, and climbed to 242 schools by Friday morning, The Athletic reported.
Maryland head coach Sasho Cirovski, who has strongly backed the proposal, said on Thursday afternoon that 41 of the then–most recent 50 votes against the plan came from schools without a varsity men’s soccer program.
Florida Gulf Coast athletic director Brian Barrio, who oversees a men’s soccer team, posted on Thursday that the “half-baked” proposal, which he says came from coaches, happened “without any consideration of the impact on our other student-athletes who share facilities and support staff” with men’s soccer.
“Without any consideration of the impact on those already overworked support staffs,” Barrio wrote. “ADs need to think about 15-30 other sports, not just soccer.”
Top Coaches Want Two-Semester Plan
Despite the overwhelming vote against the change, schools with strong men’s soccer programs are largely in support of the new calendar.
On Thursday, several top-ranked schools gave Front Office Sports favorable opinions on the NCAA’s proposal, including No. 7 Portland, No. 8 Louisville, No. 9 West Virginia, No. 11 Maryland, No. 15 Wake Forest, and No. 17 North Carolina.
“The data clearly shows that the current model is not serving the best interests of student-athlete wellness or development,” No. 3 Clemson head coach Mike Noonan told FOS. “At the end of the day, aren’t our student athletes the reason we have jobs in the first place?”
No. 12 University of Missouri-Kansas City coach Ryan Pore said he “strongly” supports the proposal because he believes “it is the right step forward for our student-athletes and the future” of soccer.
“We need to continue evolving the college game, putting our student-athletes first, and creating an environment that allows the sport to reach its full potential nationally,” Pore said.
No. 5 Akron head coach Jared Embick, who told FOS he supports the plan, acknowledged that it could be rescinded.
“I know the coaches will keep trying to move Men’s college soccer forward in the future and hopefully find a model that works for the student athletes, universities and the support staff that has supported our game,” Embick said.
Terrapins coach Cirovski has suggested a possible solution, where schools that want the fall-to-spring calendar could form their own tier, similar to FBS and FCS in college football.
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