What does the House Settlement mean for BYU?

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It was an historic day for college football yesterday. The long-awaited House Settlement has officially been signed, clearing the road for players to be paid. Revenue-sharing is a thing. New roster limits are now a thing. The college athletics world is officially in unchartered territory.

Honestly, imagine tell yourself 20 years ago that BYU is in the Big 12 Conference, there is a college 12-team college football playoff, BYU is signing the #1 basketball player in the country, and athletes are entitled to a pool of more than $20M from BYU every year. Times have changed.

The $20.5M number comes from the settlement. It's the number that schools are allowed to share with athletes. How schools elect to deploy that number is entirely up to them. NCAA President Charlie Baker has stated that Title IX doesn't apply to how the money is paid - meaning that there doesn't have to be an equal amount that goes to men's and women's sports. As you are probably already assuming, the majority of that money is expected to go to football and men's basketball.

Many schools are expected to to distribute 75-85% of their revenue sharing number to the football team and 10-15% to men's basketball. The rest will go to other sports.

Is that fair? Probably. It's football and men's basketball that drive the revenue that is to be shared, so why isn't that fair?

But there is one big, giant, fat caveat for all of this: Schools will share $20.5M with their athletes IF they can afford it.

Some schools are saddled with debt within their AD. Some schools have increased travel costs due to realignment and need every dollar they can get to keep their AD afloat. Some schools simply don't generate enough money to have $20.5M to share. It's going to be fascinating to see how this plays out throughout the country.

But let's talk about what this means for BYU and what we can expect from the Cougars going forward.

Can BYU Afford The Full Share?

To my knowledge, there hasn't been any official word from BYU on what they will do from a revenue sharing perspective. There were some comments from Big 12 officials where they believe all of their member schools will pay the full amount, but I don't believe there is anything officially from BYU.

That said, the expectation from everyone I've been able to speak with is that BYU will pay the full amount allotted. How they distribute those funds is to be determined, but it will probably look similar to what was outlined above - somewhere in the 75ish% mark.

BYU runs their program without debt, something they have been proud to tout for decades. It's one of the pillars of the athletic department and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There is no Church funding for athletics and they don't run on debt.

As such, they should be able to afford the full amount and it shouldn't be a dramatic adjustment for them.

This is also a situation where being a football independent weirdly benefited the Cougars. Because didn't have the amount of money that P5 teams had from 2010-2023, they couldn't keep pace in the facility arms race. Schools were building training facilities, renovating locker rooms, and building new stadiums. Many of those schools are cash-strapped now as realignment messed with their revenue streams.

BYU never played that game. They operated with the money they had and relied heavily on boosters to help fill the critical gaps. Now, in this new era of college sports, BYU is well-prepared to adjust.

For perspective, BYU was one of the four schools that received an unequal amount when the Big 12 distributed funds last month. It has been reported that BYU received $19M last season and the full-share members received $40M.

That $19M would cripple some teams who are accustomed to receiving at least $40M, but for BYU, that's more money than they have ever received from a TV deal. It isn't going to cripple them at all. They are likely feeling flush with cash compared to the doldrums of independence. And they're going to get more than that going forward? Sharing $20.5M is going to be an easy adjustment.

Will Boosters Still Have A Role?

One of BYU's biggest strengths is the the seemingly never-ending roster of boosters willing to donate to the program. There are billionaire boosters and there are millions - yes, millions - of small-dollar boosters who passionately follow BYU throughout the world. The booster network is a powerful strength for BYU. But, will it still exist in this new world?

Boosters will still be critical - perhaps even more critical - but their role is going to look different than it did before.

Non-revenue sharing NIL deals are still permitted in this new world, but deals over $600 have to be approved by an NIL clearinghouse before funds are exchanged. The clearinghouse, which will work in conjunction with Deloitte, will determine if NIL deals meet fair market value considerations or if they teeter into pay-for-play.

How will they determine that? Only God knows.

Who is to say that a running back in Knoxville is worth more or less than a quarterback in Provo? NIL deals vary dramatically. How do you compare an appearance at a local restaurant to sign autographs to a sponsored post from an athlete with 220,000 followers on TikTok? Does the offensive tackle who grew up and starred at Timpview have more value to the Provo market than they would in Tallahassee, FL?

There will be many, many lawsuits filed as NIL deals go through the clearinghouse. Every national writer, pundit, and NIL expert is expecting those battles to be ugly. Whatever rules exist on Day 1 will challenged again and again. Just expect it to happen.

What About Title IX?

Title IX impacts the way schools are allowed to compensate their student-athletes. Schools can't provide for male athletes differently than female athletes. There has to be equal opportunities for both.

It's not about a 1:1 scholarship ratio for men and women, but about the opportunities and benefits provided. It's about resources.

So, does revenue sharing count as a resource from the school?

Joe Biden said so.

Donald Trump said not so fast.

And here we go....

The attorneys will get to figure this one out. There is one argument that says TV revenue is about revenue generated, not about resources provided. If football is the primary reason that a TV contract is signed, football should get the lion's share of the revenue because they are the ones who earned it. That's a perfectly reasonable and understandable argument.

There is another argument that says that football is promoted more than women's sports are. Because a school promotes football more, the women don't have the opportunity to earn what the football does, thus violating Title IX.

I have my own opinion on which of those arguments is right and which is wrong, but I'm not smart enough or powerful enough to be the one to set that decision in stone.

The Title IX layers continue.

There is an argument that revenue-sharing monies aren't even coming from the schools themselves. The conferences ink the TV deals and generate the revenue. Those conferences then share portions of that revenue with member schools and those schools pass along their allotted portions to the athletes. This argument believes that schools aren't even the ones paying the players.

On the flip side, Title IX advocates have argued that the rules of Title IX say that athletic financial assistance includes any financial assistance expenditures through the university's athletic program and any other aid that is connected to a student athlete's participation. So, if the school is the one paying the players at all, even if conference money is simply being routed through the school, that Title IX does apply.

The counter there? Kentucky was the first university to break their athletic department away from the University entirely and form a separate LLC for athletics. Can't be money from the school if athletics is its own business, right?

As you can tell, the layers are complicated and the lawyers will get involved.

But for now, NCAA President Charlie Baker and the U.S. Department of Education believes that Title IX does not apply. The court battles will last for a long time and it will likely be years before we get any real clarity.

Will BYU Win More Games?

This is what we all really care about, right? Does all this nonsense result in more wins?

I think that answer is yes. BYU should be able to afford a full payout. BYU still has a deep bench of donors will to support players. And BYU will abide by whatever laws or loopholes are presented. What's more, BYU has proven that they are willing to play this game. The Cougars emerged as an NIL power over the last couple of seasons. The University and the Church supported NIL payments, even aggressive NIL payments, so long as those deals were done within the rules that had been set.

There isn't any reason to believe that those in charge of BYU would suddenly change their tune now that there is even more clarity and guidance to ensure unscrupulous things don't happen.

With the means and the appetite, it appears that BYU is in the athletic game for the long-haul. And for that reason, I fully expect all of this madness to translate to more wins for BYU.

That's what we all really want to see.