Group of Five schools have a decision to make over the next year: opt into revenue sharing and strain their budget, or opt out and risk falling further behind in football.
For Utah State, the answer is clear. The Aggies intend to opt-in on revenue sharing — letting each school direct up to $22 million in funds toward paying athletes each year — once the landmark House settlement is finalized.
Even if they don’t have the budget of a Power Four school, their goal is to build toward paying players directly.
“Absolutely, we will get there,” athletic director Diana Sabau told The Salt Lake Tribune. “I think we will get there perhaps a little bit slower, or a more thought out process, than the Power Five. It would be easy for them to dip into some coffers to get it started. You know, we don’t have a lot of reserves. We don’t have that financial fund just ready to go. Every day we eat what we can kill, and we have to do a better job of having more reserves, so that we can plan for that.”
In Sabau’s mind, not opting into revenue sharing would be akin to giving up its football competitiveness. And football is a priority for the new athletic director.
She understands that potentially siphoning away $22 million in revenue to pay players — as would be the proposed salary cap after the House settlement — would be a much heavier burden at a place like Utah State than a Power Four school.
The Aggies athletic department hauled in just over $51 million in revenue last year. That would mean if they hit the full cap, it would be over 40% of its revenue. Compare that with even a middle-tier Power Four school, like West Virginia, which is bringing in $105 million in revenue a year.
Still, Sabau said if the Aggies don’t opt in, it will be extremely difficult to recruit and keep up in football with schools who are. Plus, Utah State doesn’t necessarily have to hit the $22 million figure immediately like some Power Four schools intend to.
Sabau says recruits are “comparing who’s going to give them more resources. When you talk about revenue sharing, it’s going to be here’s your compensation package. It’s your cost of attendance, your NIL, your revenue sharing, your Alston money (education-related funds for athletes). It’s our total compensation package now. That’s what people are driving for.”
“And if we don’t do our due diligence in athletics, then we’re going to let the community down. I’m going to let the institution down. We have to be at a price point,” she finished.