Syracuse could pay its student-athletes up to a combined $20.5 million as soon as next year.
With the finalization of the House vs. NCAA settlement looming, Syracuse Athletics unveiled a seismic, multi-million dollar fundraising campaign to compensate present and future Syracuse Orange student-athletes.
Syracuse Athletics on Thursday announced it is launching Champion ‘CUSE: The Campaign for Syracuse Athletics, a campaign to raise $50 million for all of Syracuse University’s 20 NCAA Division 1 programs. Syracuse Athletics says the goal is to raise the money over the next three years.
The money raised will go to “attracting and retaining champion-caliber student-athletes while ensuring they have access to best-in-class resources, facilities and the training needed to perform and excel at the highest levels,” according to a SU Athletics release.
In the announcement, Syracuse Athletics says it is also fully committing to distributing the maximum NIL payment amount allowed under the settlement deal, starting as soon as the next academic year.
For context, a judge back in October issued preliminary approval for the proposed House v. NCAA settlement. If approved, the proposal would essentially ends several lawsuits filed against the NCAA and the Power Five conferences challenging the NCAA’s rules which prohibited student-athletes from profiting off their name, image and likeness, or NIL.
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As part of the settlement, D1 institutions will be able to directly share revenue earned with student-athletes.
Complicated math aside, here is a brief break down of all the numbers:
- P5 schools can pay up to 22% of revenue by all those schools made from media, tickets and sponsorships
- The cap for each school is around $20.5 million for 2025-26
- Schools make the choice on how much to spend within that aforementioned cap
- The cap will increase in future years
- Third-party NIL deals, ones that are not owned or controlled by Syracuse University (for example), will still be allowed
- Third-party NIL deals do not count toward the cap the school is allowed to spend on its athletes
With Champion ‘Cuse, Syracuse Athletics says the $50 million will be used to: a) win championships, b) cultivate championship-caliber teams, c) level up the student-athlete experience and d) strengthen the Orange brand.
“Syracuse Athletics’ mission is to field champion-caliber teams that bring home conference and national championships,” Syracuse Athletic Director John Wildhack wrote in the release. “College athletics is evolving at warp speed, but one thing remains the same: Syracuse Athletics will continue to cultivate outstanding student-athletes who win championships, succeed in the classroom and contribute meaningfully to our campus, their communities and society.”
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Taking a step back from what we’re now learning, there’s a few factors to keep in mind going forward.
First, there’s the actual dollar amounts being thrown around. $50 million divided over three years is roughly $16.7 million available per year. Using the example of the cap in 2025-26 being around $20.5 million, there’s still a shortfall of around $4 million just for this upcoming school year.
Where would the extra money come from? Purely based on speculation, additional contributions outside of Champion ‘CUSE helps a little. Syracuse Athletics says other ways to support student-athletes include “purchasing season tickets and supporting corporate partners.”
More third-party NIL deals certainly would also help, but that wouldn’t maximize the full cap Syracuse has at its disposal. And again, Syracuse Athletics says it “intends to distribute the maximum NIL payment amount, e.g., spend up to the cap, in 2025-26, something not every institution may elect to do.”
More importantly, there’s also the big picture question of how Syracuse Athletics ultimately decides to distribute this money. That’s a whole Pandora’s box of questions and paths to sort through, but that is essentially the most significant unknown at this time.
The other key figure outside the money is the timing of this announcement. Syracuse Athletics says the proposed House settlement is “likely” to be approved between April and June. If approved, Syracuse University and other D1 institutions can formally directly share revenue starting on July 1.
The key date to keep an eye on (roughly speaking) is April 7, where a federal judge is expected to issue that ruling. It should also be noted that there are other lawsuits pending regarding issues such as the cap on revenue sharing, gender equity and roster limits,
The good news for Orange fans is that Syracuse is committing to competing moving forward.