Utah AD Says Utes ‘All-In’ On Revenue Sharing In Future

Utah athletic director Mark Harlan also knows his school has a long way to go to prepare for the day it must share money with players.

Jul 21, 2023; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Utah Utes athletic director Mark Harlan during Pac-12 Media Day at Resorts World Las Vegas. / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Utah athletic director Mark Harlan told the Deseret News earlier this week that the Utes are “all-in” when it comes to sharing revenue with its student-athletes.

In fact, Harlan plans for the Utes to share at the full amount, which is expected to be anywhere from $20-$22 million per athletic year.

Every school that plans to opt-in will be challenged to reach the figure, no matter how much revenue they have coming in. But Harlan said he is intent on reaching that amount to keep the Utes competitive in not just its new conference, the Big 12, but all of Division I athletics.

“We are all-in on wherever the settlement falls,” he said. “We certainly have a straw man of what it’s going to look like, but until it’s ratified … but we’re all-in, we’ve been preparing for that. We’re blessed to have an incredible fan base, donors, corporate program. We’ll get there and we plan on carrying our sports.”

The Deseret News reported that Utah had a budget surplus of $1.8 million for the 2023 fiscal year.

The pledge to carry all sports is intriguing as there are questions about whether athletic programs will be able to carry all of the sports they have now. Utah, for instance, has 20 varsity sports and Division I schools must sponsor at least 16. How the revenue is divided may end up being a Title IX issue, but Harlan said, “we’re not cutting funding.”

Earlier this year the NCAA agreed to a settlement with three different lawsuits related to revenue sharing and back damages, which falls under the umbrella of the House v. NCAA settlement.

It’s possible that attorneys for both sides could file what is called “long-form settlement agreement” next week in federal court, which would be the next step in the process to have the settlement approved.

But athletic directors like Harlan won’t have full clarity on the amount of revenue to be shared, roster limits, Title IX implications and other factors until a judge approves the settlement. That agreement won’t settle things such as whether student-athletes are considered school employees or can unionize.

As the contours of the agreement have been released, several athletic directors have discussed how they’ll be sharing revenue. At least two fellow Big 12 athletic directors — TCU’s Jeremiah Donati and Texas Tech’s Kirby Hocutt — have pledged their schools will share at the maximum amount.

The same goes for new Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork, who took over earlier this year after he was hired away from Texas A&M. Nebraska’s Troy Dannen recently said that his school has already budgeted the $20 million for next fiscal year and said both Texas and Washington have already 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.