The American Athletic Conference will require each member — with the exception of Army and Navy — to provide athletes with at least $10 million in additional benefits over the next three years.
In approving the plan last week based on a college sports consulting firm’s study of the conference’s financial wherewithal, AAC presidents made it the only league so far to set a minimum standard with revenue sharing expected to begin in Division I sports in July, as reported by Eric Olson of The Associated Press.
The three-year plan will go into effect once a federal judge approves the $2.8 billion House v. NCAA antitrust settlement, which is expected next month, Olson added. AAC commissioner Tim Pernetti said Wednesday that 13 of the 15 AAC schools would opt in to the House settlement, which provides for payments to athletes of up to $20.5 million per school the first year.
Army and Navy are excluded because they do not offer athletic scholarships and their athletes cannot accept name, image and likeness money, Olson reported.
“For the conference, stepping forward and saying we’re not only opting in but here’s what we’re going to do at a minimum signifies the serious nature and our commitment to not only delivering a great experience for student-athletes but to success,” Pernetti said.
Officials from the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12 and Southeastern Conference told The Associated Press that each of their schools will be free to decide their level of revenue sharing. Most power conference schools are expected to fund the full $20.5 million on the strength of TV revenue.
The AAC approach allows each school to set its own pace to hit the $10 million total by 2027-28. "For example, a school could share $2 million the first year, $3 million the second and $5 million the third," Olson wrote.>
The AAC considers new scholarships, payments for academic-related expenses and direct payments as added benefits. Each school, with some limits, generally can apportion those as it sees fit, Olson added.
“We wanted to provide flexibility for everyone to get to the number however it makes the most sense to them,” Pernetti said. “What I expect is it’ll be a variety of different approaches. I’m pretty certain many of the institutions are going to exceed ($10 million) in year one.”
Failure to reach $10 million over three years could jeopardize a school’s membership, but Pernetti said there will be annual reviews of the policy.
“All our universities made the decision a long time ago to deliver athletics and this experience at the highest level,” he said, as reported by The Associated Press. “To me, this isn’t about revisiting that. This is about making sure we’re setting ourselves up for success in the future.”
