Report: Power conferences take steps to create governing body to police athlete compensation

In the ever-changing world of college athletics, Yahoo! Sports dropped a bombshell report on Thursday afternoon. The power conferences are reportedly taking steps to create a new entity that will govern college sports’ revenue-sharing system.

Ross Dellenger of Yahoo! Sports notes that a committee of power conference administrators met this week to discuss that evolution.

The new entity would “oversee, manage and enforce the settlement-related athlete compensation system for all of NCAA Division I.”

Yahoo! Sports outlines the new move as follows:

This new, nameless entity — running adjacent and intertwined with the NCAA — serves as a sea change in how college athletics is policed, replacing a much-maligned NCAA-controlled process of lengthy investigations, controversial enforcement decisions and, what some believe to be, unnecessary committee hearings. The NCAA’s enforcement unit, for now, will continue to police matters around eligibility and academics.

Builders of the new framework, the transition team is made up of two athletic directors from each the Big Ten, SEC, ACC and Big 12. The four power leagues, named defendants in the settlement, are leading the implementation of the agreement’s most significant piece: that schools are permitted annually to share millions in revenue with athletes under a capped system scheduled to begin July 1.

Revenue-sharing payments must follow Title IX

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights released a memo on Title IX and NIL in mid-January, clarifying questions on whether revenue-sharing payments from schools must follow the parameters of Title IX. The federal law protects students from sex-based discrimination at any school that receives federal funding and stipulates schools must provide male and female athletes with equal treatment and benefits.

In the nine-page memo, future revenue distributions from an institution to an athlete for NIL rights are classified as “financial assistance.” If not proportionally divided, schools would risk violating Title IX.

“When a school provides athletic financial assistance in forms other than scholarships or grants, including compensation for the use of a student-athlete’s NIL, such assistance also must be made proportionately available to male and female athletes,” the U.S. Department of Education memo stated.

For the 2025-26 academic year, schools will operate with a revenue-sharing cap of $20.5 million if the House v. NCAA settlement is officially agreed on this spring. Many schools were planning to allocate $15 to $17 million to football. The new memo will significantly impact those plans.

Sources told On3 that the guidance will significantly shake up how schools approach revenue-sharing payouts.

The memo also makes clear that the Department of Education does not view “compensation provided by a third party (rather than a school) to a student-athlete” as a Title IX violation. In addition, it does not “offer specific guidance on Title IX’s application in the context of compensation provided for the use of a student athlete’s NIL by a third party, including an NIL collective.”

On3’s Pete Nakos also contributed to this report.