Starting July 1, the University of Connecticut, along with every other Division I university, will embark on a new plan of revenue sharing relating to the paying of college athletes.
A revenue-sharing model put into effect by the NCAA will end the era of individuality relating to payment, meaning they won’t only have to rely on their individual revenue for payment. This individual revenue includes sole marketing deals and individual NIL collectives.
This new era of college sports is only getting more professional and business like with this new revenue-sharing model.
Athletes will be able to negotiate with their coaches pay, which in turn will seem to bolster the “pay to play” direction the NCAA is heading in.
To better understand, this new trajectory will be treated as if each athlete has a one-year deal with the school they are committed to. Following that year, the athletes will be “free agents” where the university and coach will decide whether they want to keep players or not.
Coaches across all sports are likely to not having the same rosters back-to-back years with this new revenue-sharing model giving the players more financial opportunity, limiting loyalty on college teams.
College teams are more and more turning into professional teams by the day.
Universities and teams will all try and generate and raise as much money as possible to get the best, most expensive, sought-after athletes available.
This new level of professionalism in college sports will also increasingly hurt upcoming freshmen and recruitment.
With collegiate teams now being handed this budget to spend on players, teams will prioritize transfers who already have college experience. Incoming freshmen will be than afterthought for many schools, with transfers being prioritized first.
With universities doing everything they can to create revenue, UConn teams are struggling less than the average Division I school due to the success the teams are having. UConn women’s basketball team earned a national championship this past season, along with the men’s basketball team collecting two national championships within the past three years.
Other sports at UConn are also seeing success.
This past fall, UConn women’s soccer team won their first Big East championship in 21 years. The men’s soccer team had a very successful regular season, which unfortunately came to an end in the Big East quarterfinals. Men’s hockey won their first ever NCAA tournament game while also being ranked in the top 10, along with women’s hockey, who also were ranked for most of the season.
Despite this, there is still more money to be raised and made in this growing business of college sports.
“We’re challenged more than ever in trying to generate money,” said David Benedict, UConn’s athletic director. “We’re trying to turn over every stone.”
With this new model, UConn, along with other universities, will now be working harder than ever to generate the necessary revenue for their athletes across multiple collegiate sports.
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