Dabo Swinney provides inside look at future of NIL, revenue sharing

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney discussed revenue sharing and NIL during his press conference on Tuesday after being asked about the future of college football.

House plaintiffs and the NCAA have agreed on a settlement to, in part, make revenue sharing a part of college football, but the judge has ruled that a section must be revised before it is approved or denied. Swinney updated where things stand, as far as he knows, including if he has full clarity on what’s next.

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“Not full clarity, because there’s still some things, in fact I think there’s another meeting maybe this Thursday. But I think where we think it’s heading, I think by December or earlier we’ll have pretty good clarity,” Dabo Swinney said. “Because once we know what the number is then it’s kind of up to each school how you divvy it up and share it. But we’ll certainly have clarity on that once we get some finality.”

On3’s Pete Nakos reported last week that one detail still being ironed out is “issues with language limiting boosters and NIL collective payments to athletes.”

If the House and the NCAA settlement is approved, there will be new roster limits for every sport. In addition, schools will give $20 to $23 million annually in revenue to athletes, and the NCAA and its conferences have also agreed to pay $2.8 billion in back damages to former athletes.

But how collectives fit into the new model must be sorted out before anything is finalized. Swinney was asked if schools with large collectives could still benefit, even with revenue sharing.

“To be determined. I’d say to be determined,” Swinney said. “I think there’s still probably some things to be ironed out on that side of it. I don’t think it’s ever going away, but I think you’ll see a little bit more normalized NIL once you get to the rev share. I think that will happen but we’ll see.”

Dabo Swinney and Clemson have been criticized for not utilizing the transfer portal and embracing NIL in this new era of college football. However, part of the issue for the Tigers is that other programs have more money in their collectives.

A new model could benefit Dabo Swinney and Clemson, who reached six straight College Football Playoffs and won two national titles from 2015-2020, before failing to reach the CFP each of the past three years.

The Tigers are currently 2-1 heading into Saturday’s game against Stanford. Clemson has earned back-to-back blowout victories over Appalachian State and NC State.