LARAMIE, Wyo. — In light of the dramatic changes to the Name, Image and Likeness revenue generation structure coming to universities across the country, University of Wyoming Athletics Director Tom Burman said in a statement that the school will have to adapt in order to retain and recruit its student athletes.
The House Settlement and likely NIL changes
These upcoming changes, resulting from the NCAA and its conferences settling a series of class-action lawsuits from past and present student athletes, will likely be officially approved in spring next year. The House Settlement, once implemented in the fall semester of 2025, would allow universities to share revenue with the athletes who generate it.
For larger and more competitive universities within the Power 5 group of conferences, this presents a unique opportunity for athlete recruitment. High game attendance, merchandise sales and national TV coverage mean that these schools are guaranteed to generate a lot of money that, as soon as the NIL changes are introduced, they can share with their athletes.
Talented student athletes, then, have better opportunities for making money based off where they go to school. Now, students may not just be attracted to schools because they are athletically competitive, but also because they stand to make a lot of money while competing.
The agreed-upon cap to how much a student athlete can now receive is $20 million; the NCAA will also pay $2.8 billion in back payments to former student athletes who missed out on this opportunity. For students at universities who can afford to pay millions of dollars to multiple students, they stand to earn a lot.
However, while this is financially beneficial for both those schools and their student athletes, these changes present some unique challenges for schools in less competitive and lucrative conferences. One such school is the University of Wyoming, which competes in the Mountain West Conference.
Burman: “We will undoubtedly be faced with challenges because of this settlement”
Given these prospective changes, the University of Wyoming, according to Burman, is prepared to share revenue with its athletes — though affording to do so will be a struggle.
First, the cost of the back-damages owed to previous student athletes is an expense split by all universities within the NCAA system. The NCAA has traditionally always dispersed funds to all schools under its umbrella annually, but how much each school receives will be cut dramatically in order to pay the settlement. According to Burman, Wyoming will receive $550 thousand less every year starting in 2025.
Another change UW is bracing for regards the structure of team rosters.
“Institutions can now scholarship as many student-athletes as these new roster limits allow,” Burman said. “This will bring new challenges as there is an additional scholarship cost to UW at the levels proposed. Also, with hard caps on rosters, we will not be allowed to add student-athletes above the limit and will have to reduce some rosters prior to fall of 2025.”
So, not only will UW struggle to pay for new athletes to come to the school, but it will also have to reduce the number of athletes it can take on.
Despite this, Burman said that the school will, to the best of its ability given how much athletes could earn elsewhere, share revenue by relying on the financial and emotional generosity of fans.
“I believe that these circumstances provide us with an incredible opportunity to recruit and retain high-level student-athletes and do it better than our competition,” Burman said. “I think that because we have something that many of our peers do not — you.”
The way that universities are going to be able to pay these athletes is primarily, though not completely, through ticket sales, merchandise sales, TV deals, donations, corporate partnerships and more. Burman did not disclose if and how any of these revenue streams will change at UW in order to pay athletes, but did say that these avenues will be important in doing so going forward.
“We need people to keep coming to games, to buy season tickets, to sell out the War and pack the AA,” Burman said. “We have the best fans in the Mountain West, and at a time like this we need each and every one of them more than ever to contribute in any way they can.”
He added in the statement that the school’s Cowboy Joe Club and the 1WYO NIL Collective will be important in paying athletes in the future as well.
To read Burman’s letter in full, visit the University of Wyoming Athletics website.
