Just found this:
NCAA Bars Schools From Subscribing to Rivals (Updated) - Team Speed Kills
I will say this; my guess is that every major school has had, at least in the past, a subscription to rivals and/or scout.
Rivals and Scout will not fold because schools no longer subscribe to them...you are only talking about a hundred or so subscriptions.
What will be interesting to monitor, without knowing for sure what takes place, is how schools treat writers from Rivals, Scout, 24/7 or other subscription services whose primary revenue stream and function is to cover recruiting.
My guess is they are going to be kept at more than just an arms length distance as in 'don't have anything to do with these outlets.'
The rub there is some coaches have certainly developed relationships with publishers of these sites, and they are monitored by most institutions...they read what recruits are saying in these stories, which is why they subscribe...picking through the chaff to find the wheat...and in the case of some schools, the relationships are far more entwined. I am not talking about schools financially compensating writers, however I strongly suspect (more than just suspect in some instances) that some coaches at some schools have funneled information to writers affiliated with these sites, and vice versa...symbiotic relationships. I don't think any serious rules have been violated here, however, if any.
Iowa has always been pretty locked down on this stuff, and even more so in recent years. They are very, very guarded. Very guarded. However, I know of publishers at some Rivals and Scout sites at other schools (having been a publisher at both) who text and email recruiting recon to staff members regularly, and receive the same in return.
This is certainly an interesting interpretation, to be sure...and one of the reasons I am very glad to have left the subscription model when I did.
It's not going to go away, not hardly...but I think its user base and subscriber base has peaked.
