College athletes poised to receive pay

As soon as later this month, a landmark settlement in an NCAA antitrust case could be finalized, and schools, including Pitt, would dole out more than $20 million annually to players over the next decade. The change would go into effect on July 1.

But, with an athletics department in the red and uncertain federal funding for research — a mainstay in Pitt’s budget — the source of that money is murky.

Some schools around the country have already instituted higher ticket and concession prices for games, while others are adding onto student fees to help foot the bill. Preparation for the payments has also led to already-enrolled athletes being cut from teams, and recruits committing to schools without clarity on next steps come the fall.

Pitt declined to answer specific questions about a funding and distribution plan for the multimillion-dollar payments, where the money would stem from and how recruiting may have been altered for the upcoming school year.

Why are colleges going to pay athletes?

Historically, colleges have avoided having to pay student athletes, characterizing them as amateurs rather than professionals. Karen Weaver, the author of a forthcoming book on university leadership and athletics, said this was feasible for years until college sports began to rake in big bucks.

“The amount of money pouring in at every level … just became intolerable, so athletes and their attorneys started pushing back,” said Weaver, an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania. 

Enter a slate of lawsuits against the NCAA, which oversees athletics for more than a thousand colleges and universities. The $2.8 billion settlement could end the case of House v. NCAA, which was initially brought by a former college swimmer and evolved to include two other suits. 

Experts told PublicSource that the settlement, which will allow colleges to pay athletes, was a less financially damaging choice for the organization than letting the cases play out in court. 

However, colleges and universities in the Power Five conferences aren’t exactly in a prime position to help the NCAA cover the settlement cost, especially as they each prepare to find $20.5 million for their athletes.

Can Pitt afford this?

Revenue for most schools’ athletics departments doesn’t outpace expenses, including at Pitt.

According to financial disclosures submitted to the state, Pitt’s athletics department ended the 2023-24 school year with a $45 million deficit.

“The issue with college sports, as is true for most of our education, is we spend what we get and sometimes in college athletics, they spend more,” Weaver said. “So, more often than not, they’re running deficits.”

PublicSource reached out to Pitt with questions about the deficit and did not receive a response by publication time. 

The settlement’s potential finalization would also arrive at a time when Pitt is battling critical financial concerns. Federal research funding cuts prompted Pitt in March to institute a hiring freeze that will last until the end of June, at a minimum. Research grants and contracts accounted for 39% of the university’s revenue in 2024. 

“This is a real concern. The timing could not be worse,” Weaver said about the current higher education climate.

Solutions for finding the money range from cutting sports that aren’t generating enough revenue to acquiring loans through private equity, Weaver said. Despite the silence from administrators, she said with the settlement being potentially close to finalization, it’s likely that Pitt would have a plan or be close to one by now.

Would tuition increase?

One alum has been trying for months to figure that out. In February, Byron Fleck contacted university administrators requesting that the Board of Trustees add an agenda item to their next meeting. The San Jose-based lawyer attached a statement of support for a resolution that, if approved by the trustees, would promise that tuition, student fees and taxpayer money wouldn’t be used to pay Pitt’s athletes.

State law permits state-related universities, including Pitt, to use taxpayer money only to offset tuition costs for state residents. There have been no indications that the university plans to increase tuition or add student fees to pay athletes. Pitt did not answer a question about whether it intends to do so. 

Since 2021, tuition at Pitt’s main campus in Oakland has increased every year. Last year’s increase was 2% for in-state students and 4% for out-of-state students. The university’s budget for the next school year, when athlete payments would begin if the settlement is approved, won’t be finalized until July.

Pitt Chancellor Joan Gabel and Board Secretary Philip Bakken both confirmed that Fleck’s request and statement were relayed to the trustees, according to emails shared with PublicSource. After this, Fleck said he was told there would be no further communication regarding the request. The board met on May 8 and the resolution wasn’t mentioned.

When asked why the board didn’t acknowledge the request for a resolution vote, a Pitt spokesperson said, “The Board of Trustees, through the Office of the Secretary, did acknowledge Mr. Fleck’s feedback and request. We thanked him for his feedback and repeatedly indicated that his communication had been shared with the board.”

In the absence of a vote, Fleck took to contacting Gov. Josh Shapiro, State Education Secretary Carrie Rowe and state Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman and Minority Leader Jay Costa.

Costa, whose district includes Pitt’s Oakland campus and who serves on the Board of Trustees, reached out to the board to ask them to consider the resolution, according to an email from his district office director earlier this month.

Would players be paid equally?

The settlement will not detail which athletes are paid or how much, leaving the choice up to the individual schools. Most are expected to follow a plan that would see football and men’s basketball players receiving the bulk of the money since those sports tend to generate the most revenue.

Under that blueprint, football would get 75% of the funds, 15-20% would go to men’s basketball, 5-10% would go to women’s basketball and leftover money would be given to other sports. At Pitt, there is a slightly larger number of male athletes at 292 than female athletes at 235, according to the most recent federal data.   

Experts told PublicSource they are expecting legal challenges related to Title IX, particularly if schools follow the football-heavy formula.

Title IX requires schools to provide equal financial assistance opportunities to men and women athletes. Before former President Joe Biden left office in January, he issued guidance spelling this out for the distribution of name, image and likeness [NIL] payments. The Trump administration rescinded this on Feb. 12.

Pitt did not answer a question about whether parity between men’s and women’s sports would be a factor in how athletes get paid.

How does NIL factor into this?

Student athletes are currently able to profit from outside NIL deals, a change that the NCAA allowed in June 2021. The settlement will not limit their ability to earn extra money on top of payments from schools, but there will be more regulation around deals. Those worth $600 or more will have to be made public. 

Many players sign onto and are paid through school-specific NIL collectives, which are often organizations that accept donations to pay athletes for the likes of endorsements, social media posts, appearances and more.

Weaver called these collectives “loosely structured.” Pitt’s collective is Alliance 412 and was founded by alum Chris Bickell in 2022. Bickell, CEO of the Florida health tech company WellHive, donated $20 million to Pitt’s athletics department the previous year.

These collectives operate independently from the universities, but experts predict that many will be absorbed into athletics departments after the settlement is finalized.

Alliance 412 and the university’s department, though separate entities, already work in close collaboration. Last fall, Pitt football head coach Pat Narduzzi and Bickell decided to stop paying all players, instead compensating select ones.

“If you want sponsorships and want to be paid like a professional, you have to earn it,” Bickell said in an interview with Yahoo! Sports.

Could athletes unionize?

To Ohio University professor B. David Ridpath, there is only one clear path forward for Pitt once the settlement is finalized.

“It’s going to be difficult for them to be able to exist in any competitive balance with a Penn State, with a Notre Dame, with an Ohio State, unless there is some type of collective bargaining and unionization with the athletes, because then … you could level out the playing field a little bit more,” he said.

Ridpath, whose research focuses on sports governance in intercollegiate athletics, said unionizing would allow for salary caps and even spending, in part by eliminating recruiting costs. It would also ensure Title IX requirements are met, he said.  

Student athletes have never been considered employees of the universities they play for, but receiving payment as part of the settlement’s conditions would call their status into question. Ridpath expects the settlement will open the door for lawsuits addressing this.

Details in the settlement are still being hammered out between the NCAA and athletes represented in the case, despite it having preliminary approval. If an agreement isn’t reached, the case goes to trial, and the financial blowback for the NCAA and its member schools could skyrocket.

Weaver isn’t sure what will happen, while Ridpath is more certain.

“I tend to think the settlement is going to get approved, but also I think, predict and rightly predict, that’s just the beginning,” he said.

Maddy Franklin reports on higher ed for PublicSource, in partnership with Open Campus, and can be reached at madison@publicsource.org.

This story was fact-checked by Ayla Saeed.