As the House vs. NCAA settlement gets closer to final approval, schools around the country are coming to grips with a fateful decision — whether to opt in or to opt out of revenue sharing with its student-athletes.Earlier this week, the University of Houston became the latest power conference school to announce that it would share revenue with its student-athletes at or close to the expected cap of $20.5 million for the 2025-26 athletic year.The Houston Chronicle reported the announcement. Houston athletic director Eddie Nuñez told the Chronicle that his staff has spent several months and worked through dozens of models in an effort to determine the most efficient way to share that revenue. The Cougars play in the Big 12, which is set to begin a new television contract in 2025-26 that should bring each of its schools at least $31.7 million per year as a baseline for revenue generation. The Cougars will be full members in 2026. Nuñez said the Cougars were “all-in” on sharing at the full amount, with a baseline of $18 million in the first year. This comes as the Chronicle reported that the Cougars have the smallest athletic department budget of any power four conference school and has a department that is well-subsidized by the university, as opposed to operating on its own revenue. The revenue sharing does not include what students could receive in Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) money. Due to the wording of the ruling, schools are going to be allowed to take a more active role in facilitating NIL deals and some schools are opting to bring those collectives in-house. The new settlement will require student-athletes to report any deals valued at $600 or more. They must report that to the school and to a third-party entity that will, theoretically, be either the NCAA or one created after the settlement.Several other Big 12 schools, including Texas Tech, have already announced they will share at the full amount. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said in December that he expects all of the league’s 16 schools to share revenue at a competitive level. After the first year of revenue sharing, the cap is expected to rise by about 4% each year. Schools may distribute the revenue as they see fit, but the expected percentages heavily favor football and men’s basketball. Schools can opt-in or opt-out of revenue sharing, but they cannot opt-in and opt-out by athletic program. If a schools opts in, it must opt in for all sports. The House v. NCAA settlement is a combination of three different cases brought by current and former student-athletes that was initially approved for settlement in October.

Big 12 School Makes Decision on Revenue Sharing with Student

Several other Big 12 schools, including Texas Tech, have already announced they will share at the full amount. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said in December that he expects all of the league’s 16 schools to share revenue at a competitive level. Schools can opt-in or opt-out of revenue sharing, but they cannot opt-in and […]

Several other Big 12 schools, including Texas Tech, have already announced they will share at the full amount. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said in December that he expects all of the league’s 16 schools to share revenue at a competitive level. Schools can opt-in or opt-out of revenue sharing, but they cannot opt-in and opt-out by athletic program. If a schools opts in, it must opt in for all sports. Nuñez said the Cougars were “all-in” on sharing at the full amount, with a baseline of million in the first year. This comes as the Chronicle reported that the Cougars have the smallest athletic department budget of any power four conference school and has a department that is well-subsidized by the university, as opposed to operating on its own revenue. After the first year of revenue sharing, the cap is expected to rise by about 4% each year. Schools may distribute the revenue as they see fit, but the expected percentages heavily favor football and men’s basketball. The House v. NCAA settlement is a combination of three different cases brought by current and former student-athletes that was initially approved for settlement in October. Houston athletic director Eddie Nuñez told the Chronicle that his staff has spent several months and worked through dozens of models in an effort to determine the most efficient way to share that revenue. The Cougars play in the Big 12, which is set to begin a new television contract in 2025-26 that should bring each of its schools at least .7 million per year as a baseline for revenue generation. The Cougars will be full members in 2026. The Houston Chronicle reported the announcement. The new settlement will require student-athletes to report any deals valued at 0 or more. They must report that to the school and to a third-party entity that will, theoretically, be either the NCAA or one created after the settlement.As the House vs. NCAA settlement gets closer to final approval, schools around the country are coming to grips with a fateful decision — whether to opt in or to opt out of revenue sharing with its student-athletes.The revenue sharing does not include what students could receive in Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) money. Due to the wording of the ruling, schools are going to be allowed to take a more active role in facilitating NIL deals and some schools are opting to bring those collectives in-house. Earlier this week, the University of Houston became the latest power conference school to announce that it would share revenue with its student-athletes at or close to the expected cap of .5 million for the 2025-26 athletic year.