ORLANDO, Fla. — As schools prepare to begin sharing millions with student-athletes, there is no avoiding the reality that if you’re not a power conference program, you’re at a disadvantage.
With the show being run by the four most powerful conferences in NCAA Division I — the Atlantic Coast, Big 12, Big Ten and Southeastern — athletic programs at schools such as Florida International University in Miami and New York’s St. Bonaventure don’t even have a seat at the table.
FIU, a member of Conference USA for most sports, and St. Bonaventure, an Atlantic 10 school that last fielded a football team in 1970, are D-I schools, too, but there is a significant gap between the Power Four and everyone else
Schools in the lower tier aren’t necessarily worried about a head-to-head fight over top players with deeper-pocketed schools. The priority has become survival and finding a balance between athletic ambition and financial sustainability.
Adrian Wojnarowski spoke candidly about the challenges he faced during his inaugural season as the general manager of the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team in 2024-25.