New Arizona State AD Makes Call on Future Revenue Sharing

Arizona State athletic director Graham Rossini has made a decision on whether ASU will share revenue with student-athletes.

Arizona State athletic director Graham Rossini speaks to the media on May 23, 2024. / Michelle Gardner/The Republic / USA

Arizona State athletic director Graham Rossini is the latest athletic director to make it known what his school will do if the House vs. NCAA agreement is approved, according to the Arizona Republic.

He told the newspaper that the Sun Devils are planning to share revenue in 2025, assuming the agreement is approved by a judge, which he hopes will happen by the end of the year.

“A lot of (the discussion) is tied to what compensating student-athletes will look like,” he said. “We don’t know what that will look like. That’s a conversation that will happen over the next several months.”

Rossini is new to the job but he’s not new to Arizona State. Before he was elevated to the AD position in late May, he joined the athletic department in 2021 as senior associate athletics director and was promoted last fall to executive senior associate athletic director and chief business officer.

He previously served as a VP for the Arizona Diamondbacks and received both his bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from ASU.

He replaced Ray Anderson, who resigned as athletic director last year. Rossini is helping ASU navigate to the Big 12 Conference, a move that will be official on Aug. 2.

Oddly, ASU is also the alma mater of Grant House, an Arizona State swimmer who is the namesake of the settlement case, which is actually a combination of three different cases combined into the settlement.

Earlier this year the NCAA agreed to that settlement. The hope is that the “long-form settlement agreement” will be filed next week in federal court, which would be the next step in the process for approval.

The final settlement will provide athletic directors like Rossini full clarity on the revenue share, the punitive damages, roster limits, Title IX implications and other factors. This agreement won’t settle things such as whether student-athletes are considered school employees or can unionize.

Several other Big 12 athletic directors have pledged to share revenue with student-athletes for the full amount, including Utah’s Mark Harlan, TCU’s Jeremiah Donati and Texas Tech’s Kirby Hocutt.

Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork has also pledged to do so. Nebraska’s Troy Dannen recently said his school has already budgeted the $20 million for next fiscal year and said both Texas and Washington have done so, too.

Minnesota athletic director Mark Coyle said he and his staff are working through next steps but are waiting for the settlement to be finalized to solidify their plans.