Beginning July 1, the structure of NCAA athletics and paying college athletes will take a giant leap. As the House vs. NCAA settlement was officially approved in early June, the revenue sharing model is coming to collegiate sports.
In short, the new format allows athletic departments to pay its athletes directly from the money it generates. $20.5 million is the initial ‘salary cap’ that the NCAA has implemented, meaning that is the maximum amount of money that schools can distribute to its players. This number is expected to increase by a small percentage annually.
Along with these changes, all third party NIL deals surpassing $600 must be approved by a clearinghouse. These are considered separate from what respective schools award to its players. Lastly, the scholarship limit has been significantly increased, as UNC expects to be able to award 532 full scholarships to varsity athletes, as opposed to 338 in previous years.
But the next question, and possibly the larger one for Tar Heel fans, is how Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham will decide to distribute this $20.5 million across its 28 varsity teams. It will be left up to the individual school to determine their proposal, but the expectation is most departments will follow a similar model.
Following an official statement from Bubba Cunningham that can be read in full here, we now know how the Tar Heels will operate in 2025-26.
UNC will offer most of its revenue share to football and men’s basketball, as expected. Women’s basketball and baseball players will also receive “some” as well. North Carolina did not officially disclose the projected amounts of each program, but this format seems to be common across the majority of schools throughout the country.
A rough estimate projects the split between football and men’s basketball to be near a 75-25 nationally, but how that will translate to what Cunningham wants in Chapel Hill is yet to be seen. Obviously, North Carolina is a unique case in revenue from college basketball, netting one of the highest nationally. But it also just landed Bill Belichick on the football side and must uphold the promises made to him as well. The expectation is that baseball and women’s basketball will receive a small amount in comparison, although that number is also still unknown.