NIL

Josh Heird on NCAA’s revenue-sharing model

Published

4 months ago

August 8, 2025

Your Sports Nation

UofL is investing its $20.5M in football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, volleyball and baseball.

Louisville athletics director Josh Heird told The Courier Journal Louisville is investing in the following programs: football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, volleyball and baseball.
Athletes from UofL’s other 18 sports will not receive any revenue-sharing money.

Welcome to the revenue-sharing era of college sports.

Judge Claudia Wilken approved the House vs. NCAA settlement in June, allowing schools to pay athletes directly starting July 1 with a per-institution cap of $20.5 million. That cap is set to increase annually by 4%. While opting in was ultimately optional, all current members of the traditional “Power Conferences” (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC) did, according to a list published by the College Sports Commission — a new entity overseeing compliance with rules around revenue sharing, name, image and likeness (NIL) deals and roster limits established by the settlement.

Louisville athletics director Josh Heird sat down with The Courier Journal to discuss U of L’s approach to this new system. When asked how the department is dividing its $20.5 million budget among 23 varsity sports in 2025-26, Heird said Louisville is investing in the following programs: football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, volleyball and baseball. Athletes from U of L’s other 18 sports will not receive any revenue-sharing money.

Heird did not answer how much of the $20.5 million is going into each sport, but he did say he approached each allocation with “ranges,” as opposed to rigid numbers. No coach feels like their program got a big enough slice, but that’s to be expected. From Heird’s perspective, it’s about what’s best for the athletics department as a whole. When football, men’s basketball and now women’s basketball — with the advent of an NCAA Tournament prize fund — succeed, that means more resources for Louisville athletics as a whole.

“It was more like, let’s try to, for lack of better terms, look at this as one team,” Heird said. “… If there’s an opportunity from another coach that says, ‘Hey, could we do something here from a rev-share standpoint,’ (we’re) willing to have that conversation. But for all intents and purposes, it’s those five programs.”

During a University of Louisville Athletics Association budget workshop meeting in May, Heird shared that implementing the terms of the House settlement would have about a $22 million impact on U of L’s budget. There’s the $20.5 million cap, $450,000 in additional operating costs and $1 million in reduced revenue from the NCAA as part of the $2.8 billion in backpay due to athletes who could not profit off their NIL between 2016-Sept. 15, 2024.

Louisville is in a relatively unique position.

Every school has to balance the checkbook by feeding its money-making sports more than the ones that don’t generate revenue. And for most schools that have shared their budgetary breakdown, that means dumping 75% into football, 15% into men’s basketball, 5% into women’s basketball and 5% to everybody else.

That’s what Georgia is doing. And Texas. Texas Tech decided on 74% for football, 17-18% for men’s basketball, 2% on women’s basketball, 1.9% on baseball and the rest on other sports.

Louisville, though, is a basketball town. More so than Athens, Georgia, or any Texas town, where football is king. U of L is in a class with Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and North Carolina (though that one is a little more complicated now that eight-time Super Bowl winning Bill Belichick is head football coach). In those communities, gridiron gains are greatly appreciated and undoubtedly profitable but don’t carry the same cultural weight as NCAA Tournament triumphs.

So Heird and his staff have to navigate a world where Louisville football is on the rise, eyeing ACC championships, College Football Playoff berths and all the extra cash that comes with each achievement; where men’s basketball is poised, in the eyes of some, to make its long awaited return to the Final Four; where women’s basketball is a consistent NCAA Tournament player; oh, and where volleyball and baseball are competing for national championships.

So how does one reckon with all of that?

“It’s a challenge,” Heird said. “… There’s always been some push and pull there relative to investment, but there’s more now. But if football and basketball for us aren’t successful, then everybody’s resources are going to get reduced. I think that’s what you’re really trying to reconcile. How do we make sure that we can provide the most resources to all of our programs?”

When considering how to allocate the inaugural revenue-sharing budget, Heird and his team weighed three main factors:

Return on investment: Football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball are relevant here. In addition to cash flow opportunities from CFP appearances, the ACC’s new revenue-sharing model will distribute 40% of TV money evenly among the league’s 14 most longstanding members — which includes Louisville. The other 60% will be distributed based on football and men’s basketball ratings from the past five years. Men’s and women’s basketball also offer units for participation in the NCAA Tournament. Lots of opportunities to recoup costs and help fund Louisville’s other 20 sports.
External impact of success, or good PR: A trip to the Men’s College World Series or a spot in the women’s volleyball national championship doesn’t equate to big paydays, but it does shine a positive light on U of L athletics. More so than a top-25 team finish at the NCAA outdoor track & field championship, as both Louisville’s men’s and women’s squads achieved this summer. Cardinals baseball saw a 27% year-over-year increase in social media impressions from 2024 (when the team didn’t make the NCAA Tournament) to 2025 (when U of L played four games in the MCWS), according to Learfield. The 2024 volleyball national championship between Louisville and Penn State drew 1.3 million viewers, peaking at 1.9 million, according to ESPN. Viewership and visibility are key.
Coaching staffs with a proven track records: Last year, Jeff Brohm became the first Louisville football coach to win 19 games over two seasons since 2014. Pat Kelsey led the men’s basketball program to one of college basketball’s largest ever single-year turnarounds in 2024-25. Jeff Walz took the women’s basketball team back to the NCAA Tournament for the 16th time in 18 years. Dan McDonnell brought baseball back to Omaha for the first time since 2019. New volleyball head coach Dan Meske served as Dani Busboom Kelly’s associate head coach from 2017-2024, leading the Cards to two national championship appearances and three Final Fours.

“We try to base it on like, ‘Hey, what’s best for us?’ Right? As opposed to playing the comparison game of, ‘Well, I heard this school is giving X, or this school is giving Y.'”

Louisville, and other universities across the country, can use “true NIL deals” to work above the $20.5 million cap. Heird said he’s spent a lot of his time lately re-educating donors. They got accustomed to the old system, where pay-for-play payments reached athletes via collectives. But with the CSC-monitored clearinghouse NILGo, to which deals exceeding $600 have to be submitted and approved, those type of payments won’t fly.

“I talked to a group of donors last week,” Heird said, “and I just told them, ‘Look, guys, I wake up and there’s days that I’m not 100% sure what’s going on. This is my every day, right? Like, I get paid to follow all this and make sure we know what’s going on. You guys are fans, right? And so you know probably a 10th of what’s going on.'”

Rather than scrambling to keep up with ever-changing rules and regulations, federal legislation proposed by Congress and executive orders from the White House, Heird advises his donors to stick to authentic NIL agreements. What companies or corporations are interested in paying one or more athletes to promote a business or product? At this current juncture, those types of agreements feel the safest.

On the CSC and new system as a whole, Heird said:

“Do I think it’s gone as expected? Yes, as long as you expected that there was gonna be bumps in the road. And if anybody thought this was gonna be seamless, then joke’s on them. At the end of the day, as you’re trying to make the biggest adjustments that an industry has ever seen, if you don’t have this expectation that it’s going to be a little rocky, then you’re going to be disappointed.

“… We got a long way to go. And it’s not going to be six months from now. This is going to be a slow process, but hopefully in two or three years, it’s like, ‘Hey, we really have a good understanding of how college athletics is going to operate in the future.”

Reach college sports enterprise reporter Payton Titus at ptitus@gannett.com, and follow her on X @petitus25.

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Trump calls NIL a ‘disaster’ for college sports and Olympics

Published

41 minutes ago

December 13, 2025

Your Sports Nation

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

When President Donald Trump hosts an event in the Oval Office and opens things up to questions from the media, as he did on Friday while hosting members of the 1980 Miracle on Ice team, you get a lot of dumb questions.

I mean, I get that opportunities to ask the president a question are at a premium, but with Jim Craig and Mike Eruzione on hand, is that the time to ask about Venezuela?!

President Donald Trump gestures to the crowd before the start of the NFL Super Bowl 59 football game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Anyway, at least one member of the press asked a question that made a lot of sense, and it had to do with NIL.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

That’s fitting, as back when the Miracle on Ice team played, the Olympics were strictly for amateurs, and most of the team was plucked from various collegiate rosters.

Had they played 40-plus years later, they may have been rolling in some of that NIL dough.

But, as the president noted — and Sen. Ted Cruz would agree with — the current state of NIL is simply not sustainable and could cause serious damage to college athletics, and even the Olympics.

U.S. President Donald Trump, joined by the 1980 U.S. Olympic men’s ice hockey team, holds up a bill to honor the team in the Oval Office of the White House on Dec. 13, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

TRUMP WARNS COLLEGE SPORTS ARE IN ‘BIG TROUBLE’ IN CRYPTIC POST

“I think that it’s a disaster for college sports,” President Trump said. “I think it’s a disaster for the Olympics, because, you know, we’re losing a lot of teams. The colleges are cutting a lot of their — they would call them sort of the ‘lesser’ sports, and they’re losing them like at numbers nobody can believe. They were really training grounds, beautiful training grounds, hard-working, wonderful young people. They were training grounds for the Olympics.

“And a lot of these sports that were training so well would win gold medals because of it. Those sports don’t exist because they’re putting all their money into football. And by the way, they’re putting too much money into it, into football.”

President Trump noted that the top-performing athletic programs aren’t making enough money to sustain themselves, given the rate at which they’re paying highly sought-after players.

Jack Sawyer, Donald Trump and Ryan Day side by side

U.S. President Donald Trump stands with Ohio State Head Coach Ryan Day as he welcomes the 2025 College Football National Champions from Ohio State University to the White House during a ceremony on the south lawn in Washington, District of Columbia, on April 14, 2025. Ohio State won the national championship by defeating Notre Dame 34-23. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

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“They’re putting all of their money in, and I know something about it,” President Trump said. “They will not be able to stop. You have a college president [saying], “I’m telling you, sir, we give a guard $7 million, we’re going to win the national championship,’ and they’ll give them seven, then they won’t win it.

“And even if they do win it, colleges cannot afford to be paying the kind of salaries that you’re hearing about.”

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

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Kirk Herbstreit honors Arch Manning with major college football award

Published

2 hours ago

December 13, 2025

Your Sports Nation

The 2025 college football regular season is over and the time is now for ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit to hand out his personal awards for the year ahead of what’s sure to be an entertaining postseason. He calls them the Herbie Awards, which are given out to worthy somebodies across various categories.

For instance, you can go read who Herbstreit selected as his Offensive Player of the Year right here. But one of the awards Herbstreit came up with was called the Redemption Player of the Year, which he said is intended to award a guy who bounced back from an injury, a poor season the year before, or even someone who showed extraordinary growth from Week 1 to Week 14.

He nominated three players for the honor: Texas quarterback Arch Manning, Alabama linebacker Deonte Lawson, and Notre Dame defensive end Boubacar Traore. As you should already know, Herbstreit opted to give the Redemption Player of the Year honor to the most famous name in college football, Arch Manning, for navigating a difficult year into a very positive finish for he and the Longhorn program.

“I think he came in with unrealistic expectations,” Herbstreit said of the Texas QB. “When this season started, people were talking about, ‘He’s going to win the Heisman Trophy. He’s better than Payton. He’s better than Eli. He’s better than his grandpa. He’s going to win a national championship. It’ll be the first pick next year in the draft.'”

Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning throws a pass | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

Obviously, the season didn’t turn out that rosy. For Herbstreit, it was seeing Manning undergo the ego hit and the piling on of critics but still turn his season around to finish so strong that impressed him so much.

“When that didn’t pan out in the first half of the season, people were very, very critical,” Herbstreit continued. To his credit, he blocked all of that out. Didn’t take any of it personally. If anything, I think it motivated him to go out and help his teammates win games. And I was really happy for him enduring that and coming out on the other side.”

In his first year as the full-time starter, Manning finished with just under 3,000 total passing yards while guiding Texas to a solid 9-3 season given the harsh schedule they were saddled with. After some early-season offensive struggles and two losses in their first five games, Manning and the Longhorn offense hit a groove as the Longhorns won six of their last seven.

Across Texas’ final five games, Arch Manning threw for 300+ yards in three wins against Mississippi State, Arkansas and Vanderbilt, and then led a 27-point outing and scored two touchdowns, one passing and one rushing, to lead Texas over rival Texas A&M.

Rodriguez collects Bednarik Award for fifth national honor

Published

3 hours ago

December 13, 2025

Your Sports Nation

LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech senior linebacker Jacob Rodriguez collected his fifth national award this season Friday evening as he was tabbed the winner of the Bednarik Award during the College Football Awards Show live on ESPN.

Rodriguez is the first Red Raider in program history to win the Bednarik Award, which is presented annually by the Maxwell Football Club to the nation’s top defensive player. The Bednarik Award selected Rodriguez over Ohio State safety Caleb Downs and Texas A&M defensive end Cashius Howell.

With the addition of the Bednarik Award, Rodriguez is now the winner of the Butkus Award (nation’s top linebacker), the Bronko Nagurski Trophy (nation’s top defensive player), the Lombardi Award (nation’s top lineman or linebacker) and the Pony Express Award (nation’s top duo with David Bailey) this season alone. He is the third player in history to win the Butkus Award as well as the Nagurski Trophy and Bednarik Award in the same season, joining Miami’s Dan Morgan (2000) and Notre Dame’s Manti Te’o (2012). Rodriguez joins Te’o as the only players to also win the Lombardi Award.

Rodriguez, who was also tabbed a first team All-American by the Walter Camp Foundation during the ESPN broadcast, has bolstered one of the nation’s top defenses, leading the Red Raiders to their first Big 12 title in program history this season and their first appearance in the College Football Playoff. The Red Raiders enter a potential matchup with either No. 5 Oregon or No. 12 seed James Madision at 12-1 overall, marking the most wins in program history.

Rodriguez has now led Texas Tech to four-consecutive bowl appearances during his career after going from a scholarship quarterback at Virginia, to walk-on linebacker with the Red Raiders and now a national award winner. He was joined during the ESPN College Football Awards Show by his parents, Joe and Ann Rodriguez, and his wife, Emma.

Rodriguez enters bowl season as the FBS leader with seven forced fumbles and ranks among the top-15 players nationally with 117 tackles. He is the first FBS player since 2005 to record at least five forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and four interceptions all in the same season. His impact has bolstered a Texas Tech defense that leads the nation with 31 takeaways and ranks third nationally in scoring defense at 10.9 points per game. Rodriguez was responsible for nine takeaways himself — all in Big 12 play – thanks to his ability to punch the ball out and also read the quarterback in coverage.

Rodriguez is currently the highest-rated player in all of college football, according to Pro Football Focus, grading out at 93.3 overall so far this season. He is the top-rated player in the country in terms of rush defense, receiving a 95.5 grade in that area for a Red Raider defense that is easily the nation’s best in stopping opponents on the ground. Texas Tech is giving up only 68.5 rushing yards a game thanks to Rodriguez, who also ranks fifth nationally in coverage with a 92.3 grade.

Established in 1995, the Chuck Bednarik Award is one of the most-prestigious honors in college football, awarded annually to the most outstanding defensive player. This accolade recognizes exceptional talent, tenacity and impact on the defensive side of the ball. The award is named in tribute to Chuck Bednarik, a revered figure in football history known for his remarkable career as a linebacker.

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$15 million college football coach sues Big Ten school over buyout dispute

Published

4 hours ago

December 13, 2025

Your Sports Nation

It’s a darn tootin’ time to be a lawyer in the college sports space, eh? As college footbal programs all around the country change coaches, hand out buyouts and sign ridiculous new contracts, even some former coaches are trying to get what’s theirs.

Just this week, as the dust seemed to be settling nation-wide on a chaotic spin of the coaching carousel this fall, we had Sherrone Moore’s firing at Michigan and the ugly fallout from that ordeal, plus the somewhat surprising retirement of legendary Utah Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham, setting up a changing of the guard at Utah plus a brand new search in Ann Arbor — which may kickstart a whole other chain of coaching searches.

Amid all this talk of contracts and big buyout money, one former Nebraska coach, Scott Frost, has come out of the woodwork to sue Nebraska, alleging the ‘Huskers have shorted him on the agreed-upon buyout payments. Local news outlet WOWT had the news Friday evening:

“Former Nebraska football coach Scott Frost filed a lawsuit Friday, accusing the school of breaching his contract and mishandling millions in buyout payments and taxes,” they wrote. “In the complaint filed in Lancaster County District Court, Frost claimed the university wrongly stopped payments he said are owed for 2025 and 2026 under his employment contract. Frost is seeking a court order confirming Nebraska’s right to reduce those payments and seeking at least $5 million in damages.

Scott Frost was fired on the heels of a 10th consecutive loss in a one-possession game, this time to Georgia Southern, 45-42, following a poor start to the team’s season in 2022. At the end of that season, Nebraska placed former Baylor and Carolina Panthers coach Matt Rhule at the helm of the program, and he’s guided it ever since.

Scott Frost buyout details

Former Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Scott Frost | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

When Frost was fired in September of 2022, his buyout came out to roughly $15 million, and that number would have been split in half had the Cornhuskers merely waited a few weeks, until Oct.1, to officially pull the trigger. Now, per Yahoo Sports, the argument centers on some tax mumbo jumbo.

“According to the filing, Nebraska told Frost in December 2022 that it planned to count the projected value of his 2025 and 2026 buyout payments as income on his W-2 for that year,” wrote Jim Recalto for Yahoo. “Frost argues that move was improper and left him with a $1.7 million tax liability for money that had not been paid.”

Yahoo adds: “Frost says those future payments were guaranteed under his contract and could not be reduced or taken away. However, he also claims the university said in the same email that the payments could later be adjusted, without explaining how or why.”

Seek out your local CPA for a better read on this situation, but from the bird’s eye view, it appears that Frost had future buyout payments lumped into the same year he was fired, which definitely heavied his tax burden vs. taken the payments over several years. Then, the university tried to adjust or change those payments they had already lumped onto the W-2 which Frost had been taxed for.

Essentially, the man was taxed on money he hadn’t yet received, and then when it came to receiving said money, the process for getting it was changed around despite the fact Frost was already liable for the money. At least, that’s how Frost’s side puts it. Nebraska may have some explaining to do here.

Meet The Two Oregon Freshmen Ready To Make Ducks History Under Dan Lanning

Published

5 hours ago

December 13, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Oregon Ducks dan lanning Dante moore Jordon Davison Dierre Hill Jr. Penn State Nittany Lions Notre Dame Fighting Irish NIL — Nov 22, 2025; Eugene, Oregon, USA; Oregon Ducks running back Jordon Davison (0) scores a touch during the first half against the Southern California Trojans at Autzen Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images | Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images

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Notre Dame running back Jadarian Price uses NIL money for Salvation Army Angel Tree gifts

Published

6 hours ago

December 13, 2025

Your Sports Nation

MISHAWAKA, Ind. (WNDU) – Notre Dame running back Jadarian Price used his Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) sponsorship money to buy Christmas gifts for three local children through the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program on Friday afternoon.

Price shopped for toys at the Walmart in Mishawaka as part of the nationwide program that provides hundreds of thousands of Christmas gifts for children each year.

College athletes earned nearly $500 million from NIL sponsorships this year. While some spend the money on jewelry or cars, Price chose to give back to the community.

“I’m just a kid from a small town: Denison, Texas. I didn’t come from much as a kid myself. As a guy who comes from a large family, I have a lot of siblings and little cousins running around that I helped raise. And I know it meant a lot to them, what I am doing in my position right now. It was truly a blessing to be able to be in this position to do that, do it for a lot of other kids in the community means a lot to me,” Price said.

Price has worked as a fifth-grade teaching assistant in his hometown of Denison, Texas, and coaches young athletes in Mishawaka. As the oldest of three children, he credits his humble upbringing for his charitable spirit.

For a 9-year-old boy, Price selected a monster truck, Legos and a football, thinking back on his own favorite childhood toys.

Price strives to make youth sports more accessible so all children can learn the same valuable lessons he did in athletics.

“The world is starting to become more individualized. People are starting to become more selfish and individual. So, just being able to stay around people, get outside. And the biggest thing is being part of a team. No one can take that away from you because of the relationships you make. So, just being able to be part of something bigger than yourself is what it’s really about,” Price said.

Price hopes his involvement will bring more attention to the Angel Tree program and encourage other college athletes to use their money to benefit local communities.

“It felt nostalgic doing a little Christmas shopping for a kid. I have two younger sisters, so this isn’t new to me. I used to help my mom out with getting them gifts. This is a time of joy and holiday spirit, and I think we take for granted some of that the older we get. Everyone deserves to have some joy during the season, so I’m here to help in any way that I can. If you’re in a position to do what you can to help others, I encourage you to do so, like I did today, and merry Christmas,” Price said.

The Salvation Army will continue accepting Angel Tree gifts through the weekend and will distribute them Tuesday.

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