DALLAS — In the Omni Hotel’s third-floor convention space, SEC banners cover the walls during the conference’s annual media days.
One of them features the league’s iconic pinwheel of school logos. On the other hand, there is a reminder of the SEC’s membership count: “Now 16 in total,” it says. And on a third surface, the largest and most elaborate wallpaper stretches from floor to ceiling displaying the league’s slogan.
It just means more.
While the catchphrase is primarily rooted in the conference’s passionate fan bases, in the impending era of revenue sharing among athletes, it has a very apt meaning: it means more money, a lot more.
In fact, according to estimates by many of the conference’s football coaches, SEC schools are expected to spend up to a quarter of a billion dollars annually as a league on their football players, or about $15 million. per school per year.
“Do the math,” Florida coach Billy Napier told Yahoo Sports. “We are talking about US$20 million (in revenue share). In most athletic departments, football represents 70-75% of revenue. That’s $12.5-15 million. That’s the number we anticipate.”
LSU coach Brian Kelly describes his expected budget for the football roster: “I would say $14-17 million.”
Can every school pay this price?
“Everyone in the SEC,” he said with a smile.
Dominating this year’s media days — the four-day extravaganza ends Thursday — is the historic concept that allows schools to pay their athletes directly. While the exact number remains a mystery, athletic departments expect to operate with a revenue share cap in the $20 million range when the model is implemented next fall.
How schools plan to distribute this money is gaining more attention. At least in the SEC, most schools plan to allocate three-quarters of those dollars to the sport that generates the most revenue: football.
Many of them also hope to continue using their booster-led NIL collectives as a “sweetener,” one coach said, for their players. There’s more, too: Coaches believe the new football roster limit will be set at about 105 players — a number that will allow schools to offer 20 more scholarships for the sport than the NCAA’s current maximum of 85.
That means more money. More scholarship players. More collective involvement. And, quite possibly, more of the same problems persist in the sport now.
“I don’t know if colectivos are going to go away,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “They are not under any umbrella that we are. No one will be able to say, ‘You can’t have that.’ The point of rev-share was to take that part away, but I don’t see it going away.”
Still, many questions remain unanswered as lawyers work to finalize the NCAA’s landmark landmark long-term settlement in the House – a two-part brokered agreement that pays former athletes $2.77 billion for back and opens the door for schools to share revenue with athletes in the future. As lawyers worked to complete the deal by the end of this week, court filing of document may be delayed until next weekThe plaintiff’s lawyers told Yahoo Sports last week.
But the lengthy document is unlikely to answer some of the most pressing questions. That includes uncertainty surrounding Title IX, the federal law that requires schools to provide equal benefits to male and female athletes.
Within the SEC, conference executives like commissioner Greg Sankey, as well as school administrators and their coaches, hope to learn more about this issue from how plaintiffs’ lawyers dole out subsequent damages. According to previous interviews with the plaintiffs’ lawyers, they expect to distribute about 90% of the $2.77 billion to strengthen football and men’s basketball players. That’s a 90-10 split for men.
“We want to learn from the approach taken in court or the reaction to it,” Sankey said.
“It depends on how the court reimburses the $2.8 billion,” Kelly said of the Title IX application. “If 85 (men) and 15 (women) are reimbursed in percentages, then the ADs will have coverage to advance (in an unequal division) with revenue sharing.”
Although Title IX advocates reject such a plan – they believe that schools, not courts, are subject to Title IX – the SEC is firm in its plans.
Weeks ago, school administrators began developing plans for revenue distribution. They are exploring several models, some with a 50-50 split with male and female athletes, as well as more drastic 70-30 or 80-20 models that distribute more to men, as SEC coaches have acknowledged.
A 50-50 split in revenue sharing could mean a cash windfall for certain female athletes whose sports lose millions annually, especially in leagues with fewer sports and athletes in general. For example, schools in the SEC, as well as the Big 12, sponsor a smaller number of sports (18-20 on average) than those in the Big Ten and ACC (often more than 25).
If schools decide to distribute 50% of the roughly $20 million in annual revenue to female athletes — something few expect within the SEC — the third-party collectives will be used to subsidize salaries for men’s football and basketball players, officials say. coaches. Even with an unequal division of revenues, collectives will continue to exist.
“People in our house think a lot about (our collective) and don’t see them going away,” said Shane Beamer of South Carolina. “We’re trying to figure out what the best path forward is. Whether merged (with the school) or even separate, I don’t see them going away.”
“We are a long way from having a system with a salary cap and no collectives,” Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin told Yahoo Sports.
At Ole Miss, Kiffin’s collective, The Grove, is transitioning to a marketing agency structured to accept school resources and distribute them to athletes who comply with NIL agreements promoting the school or school foundation. The Missouri collective Every True Tiger Foundation has been operating this way for months.
LSU recently announced a relationship between its collective, Bayou Traditions, and its donor foundation – a marriage that should allow boosters to receive priority points for NIL-related donations. It’s the first step toward boosters receiving the ultimate prize for NIL donations: tax deductions. “Then you would have a clear channel for NIL donations,” Kelly said.
Kelly believes the evolution of the collectives at LSU, Ole Miss and Missouri — with more on the way — are likely short-lived plays. They are a “bridge” until revenue sharing arrives next fall, with contracts that expire once revenue sharing begins. At this point, he expects the collectives to “shrink” but not give up completely.
“They become front-loaded contracts that expire at the draft,” he said. “They become the sweetener that gets you (to profit sharing). I don’t see it being as big an operation as it is now.”
Sankey also suggests that the evolution of their schools’ collectives “may be intermediate steps” before revenue sharing begins. The “theme” in the league’s boardrooms is to have NIL activities conducted “through our athletic departments” and with “oversight and transparency” under the terms of the agreement.
While enforcement of any new model remains undecided, the long-term agreement stipulates that any disciplinary action for violations of the new revenue-sharing system will come from a neutral, independent arbitrator and not the NCAA, the plaintiff’s attorney told Yahoo Sports .
University leaders say the injunction related to the settlement gives them the ability to continue their nearly century-old fight to avoid paying athletes based on performance through boosters. According to the term sheet, the agreement prohibits current recruits or athletes from entering into any agreement with a booster unless the agreement can be expressly proven to be a genuine agreement to use the player’s likeness.
Trades must be “true NIL” and pay what is described as “fair market value,” something authorities hope to determine based on disclosure data and a NIL-style clearinghouse to verify trades. It is unclear whether such an enforcement mechanism stands the legal test.
The SEC created five working groups to explore solutions for the new college sports model. Athletic directors, school presidents, and general counsels comprise groups that study (1) roster structure; (2) revenue distribution; (3) enforcement and governance; (4) SEC rules and state law; and (5) parliamentary relations.
While these are working groups exclusive to the SEC, SEC and Big Ten administrators continue to work together as part of their joint advisory board. They met as recently as June, Sankey said.
Regardless of the outcome of this new revenue-sharing model, the main goal of the structure should be to encourage parity, said Nick Saban, the former Alabama coach who now works as an analyst at ESPN.
The NIL era, Saban claims, created a lack of parity within the sport. The industry is heading towards a “caste system” between the haves and the have-nots, he said.
“I think players should be compensated, but I think they should be compensated in a way that, you know, that player is compensated under the same set of circumstances that that player you’re playing against is compensated,” he said. . “That’s not the case now.”
But has there ever been true parity in college football? Maybe not. One of the hallmarks of the sport is a century of deep-pocketed powerhouses — the states of Alabama, Ohio and Texas — using their wealth and history to gain an advantage in recruiting and thus create dynasties on the field.
The continued existence of collectives represents a threat to any situation of equality. Third-party entities operate outside of schools, are difficult to police, and provide institutions with a way to mitigate Title IX and other legal risks.
A coach is already pointing to the league’s two new teams.
“You’re adding two teams to the SEC (in Oklahoma and Texas) that I think are pretty well known and have really good collectives,” Kiffin said. “It would be like the NFL adding teams with a higher salary cap.”
Back and forth, the debate continues.
Between the logo-spattered walls of the Omni Hotel, top football coaches from the 16 schools maneuver through the maze of print, radio and television interviews. Mixed in with the usual media day questions – How is your new coordinator?;What’s with your difficult schedule? Can you take the CFP? – SEC coaches face another big question: How much will you pay your football players?
