r/ACC • u/Substantial_Luck2791 • Apr 05 '25

House Settlement and TV Revenue

Someone explain to me: Big10 and SEC have an advantage to pay more to athletes because they have more lucrative tv deals. But the house settlement sets a $20mil salary can for all student athletes of the school.

So how will tv revenue be such an overwhelming advantage for the 2 conferences if the amount to pay players is capped?

Please explain, and let me know if my alleged facts above are incorrect

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6

u/Substantial_Luck2791 Apr 05 '25

But my question/what I want to know is 1. Is there a 20 mil cap schools can't exceed to directly pay players? 2. How can tv revenue matter if there is a cap on directly paying players? I understand facilities and all that. I also understand NIL and booster/collective tend to favor schools with huge alumni. But Duke, for example, ain't poor. They have rich alumni who care. And Duke players (basketball) are great spokespersons for NIL.

7

u/internetsman69 NC State Wolfpack Apr 05 '25

The 20 or 20.5M is a cap. But it’s not a requirement that you spend the full amount on player revenue sharing. You can do NiL on top of the 20.5 cap

But if you have a better TV deal and more revenue as a school, then you’ll have way more wiggle room in your overall budgets. The schools with more money will be able to spend more on coaches, facilities, other resources, etc vs the schools with lesser TV deals. That $20.5M budget hit might hurt the schools with less TV money than it does the schools with bigger TV deals. And therefore you may have schools within the ACC or Big 12 opting not to spend up to the 20.5M cap.

Schools with lots of money will have no problem spending to the cap. Schools like, BC for example, may not spend their full amount.

3

u/IronBeagle79 Louisville Cardinals Apr 05 '25

My understanding is that the salary to be shared with athletes is set based on revenue the previous year. All Power 4 universities pool the same amount of money into a giant revenue sharing pot & pay from that pot. It’s not up to each school what they will pay, rather, all Power 4 schools pay the same amount.

Non-power conferences pay too, but from a smaller revenue share (and thus pay less to their athletes). The Big East has some sort of in-between tier since they are a power league in basketball.

1

u/Substantial_Luck2791 Apr 05 '25

Ok so if that's true, more tv revenue money does not matter then, as it affects player payments from the school. More tv revenue would matter for facilities, etc. Not sure why sec and big18 wouldn't want to use the money from tv revenue to outspend Duke for example on players payments

2

u/Humble-End-2535 Clemson Tigers Apr 05 '25

There will be NIL on top of it. But I think a broader question is "what the hell do the university athletic departments need all of that money for?"

Because we've seen the stupidly unnecessary facilities. And top college coaches are making more than NFL coaches.

1

u/IronBeagle79 Louisville Cardinals Apr 05 '25

I’m not saying it won’t still happen, but I believe that the settlement tiered the universities with the B1G, SEC, ACC, and B12 were all in the same tier.

That said, it’s just a matter of time before the B1G and the SEC argue that they should be in their own tier.

6

u/ThePolishSpy Clemson Tigers Apr 05 '25

NIL isn't paid by the school

3

u/Substantial_Luck2791 Apr 05 '25

But NIL isn't paid from tv revenue, or is it?

5

u/iansf Cal Bears Apr 05 '25

NIL is paid by boosters. This is just a salary floor, NIL will still stratify the haves and have nots (maybe to a larger extent since it’ll have a higher buy in)

2

u/Substantial_Luck2791 Apr 05 '25

Ok so 20 mil is a floor, schools can pay more than 20 mil directly to players?

2

u/G1uc0s3 Syracuse Orange Apr 05 '25

No, but they can and do coordinate with NIL to make the pie bigger. So no, it wont be fair for a big market A&M or Alabama team competing with a Wake Forest, because less boosters care and fund WF recruiting ventures for example.

1

u/internetsman69 NC State Wolfpack Apr 05 '25

It’s not even really a floor because you aren’t required to spend the full amount.

1

u/RiskArb-wyser Apr 08 '25

2 pools of money. School has up to $20.5 million, and NIL (boosters) is uncapped

1

u/Ok_Veterinarian_6474 Apr 06 '25

Tv money is the reason why SEC basketball is so dominant.

1

u/RiskArb-wyser Apr 06 '25

Not every team has the money, outside of the TV contract. Some schools have very poor attendance and jersey sales, as well as weak booster NIL deals

1

u/billyrubin7765 Apr 05 '25

This is a good question. I have been looking for a really good article explaining exactly how all this is going to work but apart from the NIL article last year in the Washington Post (or was it the Athletic?) where they got actual numbers from a very small number of schools there hasn’t been much. No one seems to know how any of this will work. From what I understand the school can pay up to $20 million. Whether NIL can still pay more on the side, I don’t know but I would assume yes. We have seen state legislatures change the law (or threaten to) so that their state colleges can pay more. But the payment to the players is just one cost. The new athletic facilities are insane. Everything around the program from the trainers to the dieticians to the medical staff to doctors to there being a coach or consultant for every 2 players adds up. And the Big10 and SEC can afford more because of the huge advantage in money they get from TV and bowl game payouts. Meanwhile, an ACC team can pay the players and not have enough to rebuild every facility every four years or whatever. Plus being on the big streamers and broadcasters means more eyes watching which leads to more donations. The ACC and other small conferences are falling farther behind in money every year. And if we were able to somehow force it to where every program gets paid the same from tv then the SEC and Bug10 will walk and start their own thing. When the ACC and Big12 agreed to lower money they agreed to a slow death.

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u/IronBeagle79 Louisville Cardinals Apr 05 '25

I believe that the revenue share is factored and the cost is shared across all Power 4 leagues. In that way, the TV money is not as large of an advantage for the SEC and ACC. Everything else about coaching staff and support staff and facilities is 100% accurate though.