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Department of Education Says Revenue Sharing Must Comply with Title IX

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Players who competed for non-NCAA schools in the past and were set to run out of eligibility this year will compete in the 2025-26 season. / revenue sharing

Revenue sharing in college athletics is slated to begin next season, starting on July 1 (if the proposal is finalized in April, as expected), but a potential wrench has been thrown into the plans of programs across the country.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights put out a memo Thursday regarding Title IX and NIL, answering questions surrounding revenue sharing and Title IX.

As shared by Pete Nakos of On3, future revenue-sharing distributions from a school to its players for NIL rights are considered financial assistance, and if not divided proportionally among men and women athletes, schools would risk Title IX violations.

Nakos further reported that most programs were planning a distribution split that would have given 75% of revenue sharing to football, 15% to men’s basketball, 5% to women’s basketball and 5% to the remaining athletes. That, obviously, would not be Title IX compliant.

But there are a lot of moving pieces when it comes to revenue sharing in college athletics.

President-elect Donald Trump is set to take office in a few days, which could have an impact on the Department of Education and future Title IX regulations in college athletics.

It would appear there’s still a long way to go until revenue-sharing in college athletics is fully figured out.

Revenue sharing is the end of the NCAA’s amateurism model, as player will be directly compensated by their respective schools, but it doesn’t stop there. The long-term impact includes scholarship and roster changes and a new way NIL will be implemented.

The NCAA, in conjunction with the four Power commissioners (plus the Pac-12), released a statement last year.

“The five autonomy conferences and the NCAA agreeing to settlement terms is an important step in the continuing reform of college sports that will provide benefits to student-athletes and provide clarity in college athletics across all divisions for years to come. This settlement is also a road map for college sports leaders and Congress to ensure this uniquely American institution can continue to provide unmatched opportunity for millions of students. All of Division I made today’s progress possible, and we all have work to do to implement the terms of the agreement as the legal process continues. We look forward to working with our various student-athlete leadership groups to write the next chapter of college sports.”

Pitt, like every program in college athletics, has had to adjust to NIL and its consequences. The university has bought into Alliance 412, the preferred NIL collective, and Pat Narduzzi has voiced his support revenue sharing.

“I think it’s a great thing that the universities are now going to start to take this over,” Narduzzi said last year. “Obviously there’s a lot of things to still work out, we’re not going to get into the meetings on that today, but that’s the settlement. Players in the past, 10 years ago, are going to get paid back, I guess, and we’re gonna pay our current players. We’re gonna let everything work through — I’m gonna worry about winning football games and we’ll worry about (revenue sharing) in ’25.”

Sandy Schall, Coldwell Banker

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