By Brian Murphy, WRAL

More corporate advertising on fields, courts and, perhaps, uniforms. New surcharges or “talent fees” on tickets. More special events and more financial assistance from the university.

Those are just a few of the changes anticipated by North Carolina athletics director Bubba Cunningham as the school attempts to fund revenue sharing with athletes beginning with the 2025-26 school year.

A settlement between the NCAA and former athletes to end three lawsuits is expected to be finalized in April. It would allow NCAA schools to share $20.5 million with athletes next season, a number that will rise.

The settlement brings other changes, too: roster limits, additional scholarships and $2.8 billion in damages to previous student athletes.

How North Carolina and other schools are going to divide the revenue sharing money with its athletes and where the additional funds are going to come from have been a constant discussion in athletic departments.

UNC sponsors 28 sports, one of the higher totals, and is a powerhouse in women’s athletics. The Tar Heels have won 45 national team titles in women’s sports, in addition to 16 in men’s sports.

But football and men’s basketball are the only two sports that generate more money than they spend. The department’s budget is about $130 million.

Former football players are expected to receive about 75% of the damages with men’s basketball players receiving about 15%. The remaining 10% will go to athletes in other sports. Some schools are using that distribution to inform how they allocate their revenue-sharing dollars.

UNC has not disclosed how it will allocate the money.

Players can still gets name, image and likeness contracts outside of the revenue-sharing payments, but there are new rules and transparency procedures around them.

“We remain committed to excellence, to winning in and outside of competition and to continuing to support our long history of broad-based programming,” Cunningham wrote in a letter to UNC supporters Wednesday. “Moving forward, that means committing to fair financial arrangements with players while continuing to provide Olympic sport athletes as many opportunities as possible.”

Athletic director Bubba Cunningham and head coach Mack Brown before the start of the game. NC State defeated UNC by a score of 39-20 at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, NC on November 25, 2023. (Jerome Carpenter/WRAL Contributor)
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He did not mention cutting any sports. Cunningham is a on the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Board of Directors. Many U.S. Olympians compete at the NCAA level.

The department has 830 athletes, but that number will be capped at 735 based on roster limits imposed by the NCAA. However, the NCAA is doing away with limits on scholarships for those athletes. UNC currently funds the equivalent of 330 full scholarships, Cunningham wrote.

UNC is not alone. All schools are contending with the changes.

NC State, which sponsors 22 varsity programs, has about 550 athletes now and projects to be between 480 and 490 under the new roster limits, NC State athletics director Boo Corrigan said in August.

“We’ve got to be creative in the way that we approach this, from finding new revenue streams to continuing to grow the pie,” Corrigan said.

UNC football coach Mack Brown said earlier this week that he expects teams are going to have some form of a salary cap, which will require tough decisions on who gets paid what.

“You’re going to have to start deciding who gets paid more because it’s going to be salary caps, and you can’t pay them all the same,” Brown said. “You’re actually going to have to say, ‘This safety is going to get this much money, so this safety is going to get less.’ And I’m sorry, but if you don’t like it, transfer, because that’s just the way we feel.

“Not only are you going to have to do a better job of evaluating before they get here, you’re going to have to do a great job of evaluating who you’ve got, and then you’re going to have to develop who you’ve got.”

The additional revenue is going to come from a variety of sources, Cunningham said. He said fans can expect to see more advertising logos in stadiums and on playing surfaces.

“And perhaps our uniforms,” he wrote.

Tennessee previously announced a “talent fee” would be added to ticket sales in order to fund revenue sharing. Corrigan previously said that NC State would consider a small surcharge on tickets. Cunningham’s announcement said the department “will consider” a surcharge.

The department began selling alcohol at its indoor venues, including the Smith Center, citing the need to increase revenue. Alcohol was previously available at football games at Kenan Stadium.

In the last two summers, Kenan Stadium has hosted international soccer matches. Other one-off events to generate more money are being considered.

The university forgave some facility debt and gave the department additional funds since COVID in 2020, Cunningham wrote.

“With the changing financial model in college athletics, the University has committed to supporting our mission and providing some of the funds needed for the new revenue share,” Cunningham wrote.

Cunningham said the department is evaluating its budget as well and will rely on the Rams Club to help fund additional scholarships.

UNC and NC State do not get a share of tax revenue from online sports betting, which launched in the state in March. All other UNC System colleges with intercollegiate athletics receive a portion of the money. To date, each school has received more than $1.3 million from sports betting.

A legislative proposal to change the distribution to include UNC and NC State, which as members of the ACC have far more lucrative media rights revenue than any other public school in the state, did not gain traction earlier this year. Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, said Wednesday that he was open to changing the distribution to include all UNC System schools.

Source: wralsportsfan.com