Ranked as one of movies’ greatest all-time lines, “Show me the money” from the 1996 film Jerry Maguire has turned out to be three decades ahead of its time! What began on July 1, Division I college athletes across the country will be shouting the same line at the college of their choice, and in many instances collecting big time.
As the calendar flipped to this month, NCAA Division I schools are now allowed to pay athletes directly as a result of a court settlement that ended three antitrust lawsuits against the college governing behemoth. The settlement paved the way for revenue sharing, and for the first time in the history of college sports, giving athletes a portion of the resources they help generate.
This action gives Division I schools the opportunity to pay athletes up to $20.5 million of the revenue their athletic department generates. Each school is now able to decide how to allocate this money among the sports they conduct. Most expect football, men’s basketball, and, to a lesser degree, women’s basketball, the greatest revenue-producing sports, to receive the lion’s share of these payouts.
The $20.5 million figure will increase each year, similar to how the NFL’s salary cap works, proportionally to revenue. Colleges that opt in to the plan are also required to help pay the $2.8 billion in ‘back pay’ to former NCAA athletes who competed since 2016.
These actions are the result of the “House vs. NCAA case,” which was approved by the court on June 6. The settlement ended three antitrust lawsuits that argued the NCAA has illegally limited college athletes’ earning abilities.
Any NCAA school choosing to opt into the House settlement will be allowed to participate in revenue sharing, regardless of the level of funding. Not surprisingly, the power conferences — the Big 12, Big Ten, and SEC — were the first to line up, checkbooks in hand, confirming they will pay out the full $20 million or more each season. The Atlantic Coast Conference is requiring its schools to revenue share $10 million with their athletes over the next three years. Any school, at any level of the NCAA, can technically opt into the agreement, as long as they follow the terms of the settlement.
Following the money trail, the aforementioned Power Four conferences will take over the regulation and enforcement of player compensation issues. They plan to create a new organization called the College Sports Commission and will hire a CEO to oversee the operation.
It was just four years ago, on July 1, 2021, when the first NIL rules were established, allowing athletes to profit from their name, image, and likeness. The money faucet has been flowing ever since.
The most recent figures indicate that Duke basketball star and the NBA’s number one draft pick, Cooper Flagg, reportedly earned $28 in NIL deals during his one-year tenure playing basketball at Duke, the money coming from contracts with shoe companies New Balance and Fanatics. Quarterback Shedeur Sanders (Colorado) received $4.7 million, and the Texas QB tandem of Arch Manning and Quinn Ewers made $2.6 million and $1.9 million, respectively. Texas Tech softball pitcher NiJaree Canady, who led her team to the Women’s Softball World Series, is being paid $1.2 million for her talents.
However, all is not milk and honey in the land of ‘professional’ college athletics. While the football and basketball players may be cashing checks, the multitude of non-revenue sports dotting the college scene could be in for a rude awakening down the line. The questions must be asked: How long can colleges continue to sponsor the number of sports they currently have, and how many future scholarships will be available due to the funds committed to pay athletes?
There may be more coming, but one school, Saint Francis University, has found Division I too rich for its blood.
The small Loretto, PA university (1,658 undergraduate students) men’s basketball team earned a bid to this past season’s March Madness tournament for the first time in 34 years but has found it necessary to wave the DI white flag and is pursuing a reclassification of its NCAA program to Division III, effective in 2026.
In a statement, the University’s Board of Trustees said, “The governance associated with intercollegiate athletics has always been complicated and is only growing in complexity based on realities like the transfer portal, pay-for-play, and other shifts that move athletics away from love of the game. It is our intention to provide resources and support to our student-athletes in the changing environment that aligns with our mission, and our community’s expectations.”
Other schools will be sure to follow a similar path.
But for the faithful followers of Penn State, who will be asked to open their wallets a bit wider for the privilege of filling West Shore Home Field at Beaver Stadium, rest assured, the Nittany Lions are all in.
“Penn State enters this new era of college sports in a position of strength and ready to attack this new collegiate landscape,” stated PSU athletic Director Pat Kraft. “I assure you we will embrace every opportunity this new model creates.”
While it is true that ‘there is nothing permanent except change,’ perhaps Bruce Springsteen’s song ‘Only the Strong Survive’ will become the new NCAA anthem.
