Power Four Put Finishing Touches on How Revenue Sharing Era Will Work

NEW YORK—After the landmark House v. NCAA settlement allowing schools to pay players was finalized June 6, the power conferences have begun finalizing key details about how the complex settlement will actually be implemented. That includes finalizing an enforcement agreement for all schools to sign, and providing schools with a mechanism to pay players.

The Big 12 expects to finalize and have all schools sign an agreement binding them to the terms of the House settlement within the next couple weeks, commissioner Brett Yormark told Front Office Sports Thursday. 

The agreement, which effectively functions like a contract, stipulates that schools cannot sue to challenge any terms of the settlement—including new roster limits, a cap on revenue-sharing, and an approval process for NIL (name, image, and likeness) deals dubbed “NIL Go.” All power conferences have been working on agreements, which may vary slightly. Division I schools outside the power conferences will likely be required to sign a similar type of agreement, a source said. (They aren’t required to opt into the terms of the settlement, but can do so for this year before June 30.) 

There were concerns about signing a memo of this nature, FOS previously reported. But Yormark has said the Big 12 schools were all on board with the concept. Separately, all SEC schools have signed their conference enforcement agreement, the source told FOS.

Then, on July 1, schools will be allowed to officially begin sharing revenue with players. Each school will be able to share up to $20.5 million with athletes across their departments—though most schools will offer rev-share payments to just a few top-grossing sports like men’s basketball and football (with Olympic sports getting extra scholarships instead). 

To facilitate these payments, the Big 12 signed a partnership with PayPal, which owns Venmo, to be the mechanism schools use to send payments to hundreds of athletes they must now compensate. 

“So many [students] already have Venmo and PayPal as their primary wallet, that now we can do really seamless experiences for them,” PayPal CEO Alex Chriss tells FOS.

The deal also sees PayPal paying the Big 12 about $100 million over the five years, another source confirmed to FOS. The timing could not be more crucial, as schools are looking for extra revenue streams to fund revenue-sharing payments.

“Fourteen months ago we started engaging PayPal on what would be the most appropriate entry into college athletics,” Yormark says. “Ultimately, as time passed, we got closer to settlement—and then ultimately approval—we started realizing there could be a real, authentic point of entry here.”

The Big Ten has also signed on to work with PayPal, and Yormark said on CNBC Thursday he believed the ACC would follow suit.