Scarlet Sunrise: Gene Smith voices support for proposed NCAA revenue-sharing model
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Gene Smith voices support for proposed NCAA revenue-sharing model
News broke Thursday night that the NCAA and its five major Division I conferences, commonly known as the “Power Five,” reached a multi-billion dollar agreement to settle three federal antitrust cases and to adopt a revenue-sharing model for college athletes.
While the NCAA’s board of governors and leaders from the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC and Pac-12 voted in favor of the terms laid out in the settlement, those terms must be approved by a federal judge, in this case Judge Claudia Wilken. That could be a months-long process. Wilken is presiding over the three aforementioned cases: House v. NCAA, Hubbard v. NCAA and Carter v. NCAA.
In NCAA president Charlie Baker’s letter to Division I members Friday, he wrote that the “back damages” for those three cases is approximately $2.78 billion. That sum will be paid over a 10-year span, so, $280 million annually, to former and current Division I student-athletes — all of them, dating back to 2016, are eligible. Of the $2.78 billion in back damages, $1.2 billion will come from the NCAA itself. The final 58% will be taken care of by the Division I conferences.
Here’s the breakdown by level, per Baker’s letter:
- Football Bowl Subdivision conferences: $95 million annually (33%).
- Football Championship Subdivision conferences: $37 million annually (13%).
- Nonfootball Division I conferences: $34 million annually (12%).
As for the proposed revenue-sharing model, it “proposes that 22% of average Autonomy 5 revenues can be shared with student-athletes, potentially amounting to $1 billion to $1.5 billion annually,” as written in Baker’s letter.
Longtime, and outgoing, Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith voiced his support for the proposed NCAA revenue-sharing model Friday evening on social media.
“This new model will benefit student-athletes in major ways,” Smith wrote in a post to X, “this change has to be embraced allowing Buckeye Athletics to continue to be a premier program!”
Smith’s support comes as no surprise. Not only has he previously advocated for NCAA president Charlie Baker, but also Smith is a firm believer that college athletics should be all about setting student-athletes up for success.
The 18th-year Ohio State AD spoke about the potential for revenue sharing on April 18 during his Q&A at the Fawcett Center.
“There’s going to be some revenue share,” Smith said at the time. “Obviously football is very much a part of that. I look at it this way, just simplifying it: It’s room, board, books, tuition, cost of attendance, Alston money (financial awards for academic achievement NCAA schools can give to college athletes during their recruitment), and I’m hopeful that it’s NIL rights, whatever that number is.
“So hopefully that happens.”
Throughout his tenure, Smith has taken pride in the breadth of championship-caliber programs among the 36 varsity sports on campus. It’s possible, however, that the revenue-sharing model in the settlement will affect how Ohio State funds some of its non-revenue varsity sports, despite the fact that the Buckeyes’ athletic department generated $279,549,337 in revenue in fiscal year 2023 (July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023), the most of any college athletic department nationally.
“In the past, we’ve always had the expectation for all of [the programs] to chase championships,” Smith said in a scrum after his Q&A last month. “Realistically, [with a revenue-sharing model], if you’re not providing all those resources that we currently provide [to every sport] because you have to reduce the budgets in order to fund whatever comes at the top level, then you’ve just gotta change your expectations.
“My guess is we’ll still sponsor 36 sports, but X number will be sponsored at a different level of support.”
Adaptability will be key.
But, first, the settlement terms have to be approved. If they are, revenue sharing will start in the 2025-26 fiscal year.
Roundtable: How this season will impact future of Buckeyes QB room
“Quarterbacks Week” is coming to an end at Lettermen Row. But we couldn’t wrap up our preview coverage of Ohio State’s signal callers without a roundtable back-and-forth between team reporters Spencer Holbrook and Andy Backstrom.
They trade thoughts on how this season will affect the future of the Buckeyes’ quarterback room, along with swapping perspectives on what the quarterback competition looks like right now and who the major players are in that battle under center.
Check out that conversation, and analysis, here.
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Former Ohio State standouts helping recruit four-star CG Jerry Easter to Columbus
Jerry Easter could be the next player from the greater Toledo area to enjoy a great career in scarlet and gray. The La Lumiere (Ind.) four-star combo guard — currently ranked as the No. 27 overall prospect in the 2025 class, according to the On3 Industry Ranking — has ties to other Toledo natives who have gone on to play at Ohio State.
Jim Jackson and Marc Loving, in particular, have given Easter insight about the Buckeyes during his recruiting process already.
“It’s been great,” Easter told Lettermen Row. “I mean, I’ve been watching them all my life, and, plus, I know people that went there like Jim Jackson and Marc Loving and stuff like that. And, I mean, it’s always been a good program, and it’s where I’m from. I’m from Ohio.
“So I mean, you can’t go wrong with Ohio State, and they’ve been reaching out to me, Coach Diebler has, since my ninth grade year here. And, since, he got the head coach job, and that’s been really great. So that was a big role for him this year.”
For more on Easter, go here.
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Counting Down
Buckeyes vs. Akron: 98 days
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