Temple AD Faces Critical Decision As Revenue Sharing Approaches

While Power 4 athletic directors should have the money to pay players, schools at Temple’s level will have to make a harder choice.

Mar 17, 2024; Fort Worth, TX, USA; Temple Owls forward Steve Settle III (14) drives to the basket as UAB Blazers guard Efrem Johnson (24) defends during the second half at Dickies Arena. / Chris Jones-USA TODAY Sports

Temple Owls athletic director Arthur Johnson is like every other college athletic director right now — he’s trying to figure out a new landscape where schools can directly pay student-athletes.

Assuming the House vs. NCAA settlement is approved by a federal judge, schools will have that option come next fall. The cap for those payments will be $20 million per year.

For the Power 4 schools — which includes the SEC, the Big Ten, the ACC and the Big 12 — the decision to share revenue will be a pretty easy one. Those leagues have tens of millions in television revenue coming in.

Many of them are already planning ahead, including Minnesota’s Mark Coyle and Nebraska’s Troy Dannen, the latter of which told Cornhusker fans earlier this year that the money is already budgeted for 2025-26, assuming the settlement is approved.

For Johnson and other schools that play at the Group of 5 level, it’s a more complicated decision.

Temple, along with its mates in the American Athletic, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West and Sun Belt, will have to make a decision about whether to opt in or opt out of paying their student-athletes.

The settlement gives them that choice. It’s one Johnson can’t make along, and not having a university president at the moment doesn’t help matters.

"That's a university decision, and every university will have the decision, whether they opt in or opt out," Johnson said in an interview with 247sports.  "So you have the ability to opt in or opt out."

The decision has significant ramifications. If Temple opts in, it means they’ll need to raise more money, something Johnson said is a necessity regardless.

If the Owls opt out, it has the potential to damage its ability to recruit both high school and transfer student-athletes.

Plus, it’s a school-by-school decision, not a conference decision. If the Owls opt out, other AAC schools may opt in. That’s another disadvantage to consider.

Johnson is laying the groundwork but he isn’t making decisions — yet. That’s because the judge could amend the current settlement.

"A lot of it depends on the courts, the judge, when they get the longform to the judge," Johnson said.  "Right now they just have a seven- or eight-page MOU with some terms on it.  Now you've got to get the attorneys in the room to put together the documents and really a whole lot more detail."