If U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken approves the House v. NCAA titanic settlement next Monday in Oakland, it will mean a big payday for tens of thousands of college athletes — past, present and future.
And that includes former Nittany Lion stars and current student-athletes, who will literally be on the Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics official payroll in fall 2025, with several of James Franklin’s players slated to make six figures…and more, maybe much more.
The settlement of the class action lawsuit, named after lead plaintiff and former Arizona State swimmer Grant House, will mean big(ger) bucks for tens of thousands of athletes: For current college athletes, like those at Penn State, who will share an additional $20.5 million in revenue-sharing money annually beginning this fall. And for any college athlete who played from June 15, 2016 and Sept. 15, 2024 — especially those who played power conference college football and Division I men’s and women’s basketball. To the tune of $2.78 billion.
A current player like Penn State quarterback Drew Allar will be paid for the 25 games he played (and 15 he started) up until Sept. 15 of last season as part of that back-pay settlement. Of course, Allar will also get rev-share money moving forward, plus marketing deals via the traditional NIL channels, like Happy Valley United, the non-university company that does deals for and pays players. Allar also gets deals as a client of the mega-talent agency, Creative Artists Agency (CAA). CAA also has Franklin as a client.
Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft is all-in with opening the ICA wallet to the maximum amount allowed by the NCAA — the $20.5 million, but expected to incrementally grow to as much as $30 million. Penn State athletics brought in nearly $221 million in gross revenue in fiscal year 2023-24.
The new rev-share ruling will give those athletes some of the money they helped generate as their sport’s primary labor pool, from TV and other media dollars, ticket dollars, concession and parking dollars, advertising and licensing dollars, and conference and NCAA dollars. Last year, Penn State received $60 million from the Big Ten Conference. This year, that league payment is expected to jump to $73 million. And, by 2030, estimates are that Penn State’s share of Big Ten money will be upwards to $100 million.
KRAFTING A STRATEGY
So, there’s lots of revenue for Penn State to share. The logic is academic (though not academics), at least to Kraft, who has a bachelor’s degree in sport marketing management, a master’s in sport marketing administration and a Ph.D. in sport management.
“It’s marketing now,” Kraft said a few weeks ago. “It’s marketing dollars, I think, with the new rev share and the $20.5 [million]. Obviously, we’re going to invest the 20.5, then it increases 4% every single year after that. I mean, we’re doing that.
“I think what people think of the traditional NIL piece is we’re where we need to be. You have to keep looking and you’ve got to continue to do what you got to do. But in this new system, you’re going to have to show fair market value. And this is where the power of Penn State is a huge asset — because fair market value for the starting quarterback at Penn State, it’s pretty good.
“We’ve got to lean into that and with our business partners. And so that’s kind of the new world of name, image and likeness. That’s what we met about at the Big Ten and the SEC meetings, is understanding how this new world is going to live. I will say, everyone is discussing the 20.5 and the rev share.”
PAYDAY FOR THE PAST
A few weeks after the Penn State football team beat Wisconsin in the 2016 Big Ten championship game and then took part in an epic Rose Bowl battle against USC, star running back Saquon Barkley and a few teammates signed autographs at a special Big Ten champions night at a Nittany Lion basketball game in the Bryce Jordan.
Their appearance was hyped beforehand, and hundreds of football fans flooded the BJC for Saquon’s name (an autograph) and image (on a commemorative poster). The hoops ticket-buyers came for the football, definitely not the basketball, as PSU was in the midst of a post-Christmas 7-13 freefall.
A total of 24.94 million people had watched the Nittany Lions’ two postseason games in 2016-17 on television. And another 160,146 fans watched the Big Ten title game and Rose Bowl in person. Saquon’s share of that ratings bonanza and attendance avalanche? Zero. Saquon’s share of that autograph session? Nil, as in nothing…and not NIL.
A few days after that BJC gratis appearance, I saw Saquon on Penn State’s campus. I asked him, “How much did they pay you for that event at the BJC?”
He grinned, innocently, and said, “Nothing.”
Remember, this was early 2017. I said, “We know they came to see you, Saquon. Let’s do the math: Let’s say an additional 2,000 fans went to the game to only see you and some of your teammates. At $20 per person for tickets and a hot dog and a drink, that’s an extra $40,000. How much of that did you get?”
“Uh, nothing,” said Barkley, shaking his head. A kind-hearted and genuinely good-hearted person who gladly gave up his NIL at BJC for PSU, he still got my point. And zero dollars.
With a positive ruling by Wilken, Barkley — who recently signed a two-year, $41.2 million contract with the Philadelphia Eagles — is going to get paid by the NCAA for some of the revenue he helped generate as a student-athlete at Penn State. Maybe he doesn’t need that back pay now…but I bet he could have used it as a student.
So, how much back pay are we — and Judge Wilken — talking about? Much of the $2.78 billion to be paid by the NCAA will go to what is essentially back pay for mostly former major college football (getting 75% of monies paid) and basketball players (20%). In all, upwards to 400,000 former college athletes could receive a payoff.
Power conference football players, like Barkley, and men’s basketball players will receive an average of $135,000 total in yearly payments over 10 years, according to ESPN. The Associated Press puts the average back-pay payoff at $91,000. Allar, as mentioned before, will get a share of this, too. Former Division I women’s basketball players will average $35,000 in total payments, while former athletes in other, less revenue-oriented sports will receive a tenth or less of that amount.
PAYDAYS PRESENT
How will Kraft, Franklin & Co. divvy out the $20.5 million they will now pay to their current athletes? This is beyond what the private and separate NIL collective Happy Valley United will continue to pay Penn State athletes, mostly in football and basketball, for “marketing” opportunities.
And what HVU and others have already paid and promised. Under the NCAA’s proposed settlement, a clearinghouse system operated by financial giant Deloitte will track and evaluate all third-party NIL deals for Division I student-athletes valued at $600 or more, ensuring they are fair market value and for a legitimate business purpose. Many schools — Penn State among them — are rushing through NIL payments in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to their top returning players right now before the clearinghouse goes into effect. That’s been a key part of retaining players and recruiting new ones through the portal. We’re talking big money that, in some cases, is $1 mil and more.
Nationally, Power Four football programs are expected to pay 80% to 85% of that $20.5 million rev-share money — or marketing money, as Kraft calls it — to their football players. That works out to a football payroll of about $16 million or so.
Patrick O’Rourke, a Washington, D.C.-based economist and CPA, runs the website nil-ncaa.com, where he shares his rev-share research. And, in that vein, O’Rourke estimates that Penn State athletics will share its $20.5 million new player payroll money as follows — here is his Top 10, by average compensation per player:
| Team | Allocation % | Est. Team Allocation | Avg. per player |
| Football | 82.1% | $16.8 million | $160,350 |
| M. Basketball | 9.3% | $1.9 million | $126,900 |
| M. Hockey | 1.9% | $395,000 | $15,200 |
| Wrestling | 1.5% | $310,250 | $10,350 |
| W. Volleyball | .4% | $79,725 | $5,300 |
| W. Basketball | .3% | $63,218 | $4,520 |
| W. Tennis | .2% | $33,825 | $3,760 |
| W. Hockey | .4% | $83,800 | $3,650 |
| W. Gymnastics | .3% | $62,170 | $3,270 |
| W. Golf | .1% | $23,340 | $2,600 |
That $160k per football player on the to-be-capped 105-man roster is just an estimate, and an average. Some will get more — Allar, returning running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen, and transfer wide receivers Kyron Hudson (USC) and Devonte Ross (Troy) are among the best guesses.
How much more? Well, it was reported that quarterback Beau Pribila got a guarantee of $1.4 million to transfer from Penn State to Missouri last December in the midst of the Nittany Lions’ College Football Playoff run. How much is from the Mizzou athletic department’s rev- share and how much is NIL collective money is anybody’s guess. Well, Beau knows. Certainly, Allar is worth more.
Among the top four averages are for basketball, wrestling (2025 national champions…again) and men’s ice hockey (in the Frozen Four for the first time). Only hoops is not producing on the court.
FRANKLIN ON PAYING FRANKLINS
Last Tuesday, at his presser in Beaver Stadium to kick off official spring drills, I asked Franklin for his POV, in light of the upcoming Wilken ruling, on a pair of payroll questions:
The first: “Have you already or when will you let guys know what their number is that they’re going to get?”
“Yeah, I think this is the challenge, right?” Penn State’s 12-year head coach said. “One of the things; it’s crazy. It’s like having the transfer portal open during the playoffs. Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, right?
“It’s the same thing. We’re playing our season, having to make plans for NIL and the transfer portal like everybody in the country, and you had to have those deals done before the transfer portal closed because that affected people’s decisions.
“Then also you didn’t completely know or understand all the rules of engagement and how it’s going to work out because it was still being worked through in court. So, this is a challenge all over the country. A lot of coaches are talking about this. A lot of ADs are talking about this. A lot of commissioners are talking about this.
“It’s challenging. I think moving forward, after you get through Year One of revenue sharing, you’ll have a structure that you used in previous years that went well and you want to build on it or some things you want to tweak and get better.
“To your point,” he added, “that’s why this is so challenging. You’re having to make decisions and having to move forward really before you have all of the information and all of the guidelines. Decisions are still being made today, not only in the courts, but also with commissioners and AFCA, and all these things. So very, very challenging.”
And, the second: How close are estimates for your quote-unquote payroll being around $16 million of that new money for football next year?
“Obviously, not going to get into the specifics and the details,” Franklin replied, “but that’s what’s made this so challenging. It’s not like when we decided we were going in this direction that all of the rules [and guidelines] were mapped out for everybody. They’re still changing as we speak. So, it’s been an interesting year for everybody.”
THE BIG EARNERS
Lest you begrudge the Penn State players their rev-share/marketing dollars, let’s look at the five highest-paid employees in the Penn State athletic department (and pretty much in the entire PSU biosphere, save for some doctors and administrators). PSU ICA encompasses over 300 full-time employees and 840 athletes. Numbers are based on 2024 earnings and/or their 2025 contract, and are on an annual basis:
1. James Franklin, football coach, $9.4 million
2. Mike Rhoades, men’s basketball coach, $3.6 million
3. Jim Knowles, football defensive coordinator, $3.1 million
4. Pat Kraft, athletic director, $2.26 million
5. Andy Kotelnicki, football offensive coordinator, $1.7 million
