AAC Becomes First Conference to Set Athlete Revenue-Sharing Minimum

The American Athletic Conference will require its schools to share at least $10 million of athletic revenue with athletes over the next three years.

If the $2.8 billion House v. NCAA settlement is approved next month as expected, universities can pay up to about $20.5 million total annually to all of the athletes in their departments, based on a new revenue-sharing structure. While many Power 4 programs will pay out the maximum amount allowed, less lucrative programs in smaller conferences like the AAC may not be able to pay out the full $20.5 million each year.

“We wanted to provide flexibility for everyone to get to the number however it makes the most sense to them,” AAC commissioner Tim Pernetti said, according to the Associated Press. “What I expect is it’ll be a variety of different approaches. I’m pretty certain many of the institutions are going to exceed ($10 million) in year one.”

Meeting the AAC’s minimum would mean paying out an average of roughly $3.33 million, or more, each year. Army and Navy will be exempt from the requirement since they do not provide athletic scholarships and don’t allow their students to accept NIL (name, image, and likeness) money. 

Varying Approaches

Schools around the country have been working hard to prepare for this new revenue-sharing era, including hiring new employees and creating departments to facilitate the practice. 

Each school will be able to spread out their revenue distribution however they like among their sports, but football and men’s basketball are expected to get the lion’s share at most campuses.

Big 12 member Texas Tech was one of the first major schools to release details of its plan, which includes:

• Football: $15.1 million (74%)
• Men’s basketball: $3.6 million (17.5%)
• Women’s basketball: $410,000 (2%)
• Baseball: $390,000 (1.9%)
• Others: $920,000 (4.5%)

More details from schools and conferences are expected to roll out as the finalization of the settlement approaches.