Mitch Barnhart, UK counter $50M athletics budget increase with 'Champions Blue' ahead of revenue sharing shift

The University of Kentucky is preparing for the expected approval of the House settlement by restructuring its athletics department governance with the creation of Champions Blue, Mitch Barnhart and UK Athletics announced on Thursday. It’s a shift that will provide greater financial flexibility as the school accounts for an additional $50 million in the athletics budget — including the $20.5 million needed for revenue sharing with student athletes.

In short, UK is moving away from its traditional amateurism model as the state of college athletics transitions to one that includes professional qualities. They will be leaning on pro sports experts along the way as the school looks to stay one step ahead of the curve with the athletics department operating under its own umbrella, separate from previous university structures and the 20,000-plus employees it has.

“This gives us an opportunity to have an entity create benefits, which allows us to be more thoughtful in our revenue streams, create maybe some public-private partnerships and will benefit from internal and outside experts, including some people from pro sports,” Barnhart said, via Jon Hale of the Herald-Leader. “Some transparency and accountability that helps us through this new world and makes it steadfast in our commitment to continue to graduate young people.”

“We believe this is an innovative approach — a new structure and governance model that thoughtfully contemplates how we strengthen Athletics, protect and promote the University and open up new opportunities for growth,” said UK President Eli Capilouto. “It’s a foundation and model that we are calling Champions Blue. Athletics and its success have always been the result of an incredible and productive partnership with campus. It will continue to be in the future — if we seize the opportunities in front of us to meet the challenges that lie ahead.”

Additional expenses include increased costs for scholarships, travel and food. The goal is for UK Athletics — currently self sufficient — to continue contributing financially to academics with scholarships and construction projects. The new budget will be unveiled in June.

“We’ve had a lot of thoughts of things we wanted to do to produce new revenue, and some of those we’re just not capable of doing in our current structure,” Barnhart continued. “… We talked about public-private partnerships. We’ve got some thoughts, and you’ve heard other (schools) talk about business districts and things like that. And those are conversations that are all on the table but really difficult to perform in our current structure. This gives us more flexibility to do that.”

Other creative funding strategies could include fan experiences and premium seating at events, along with using campus space around athletic venues.

Just this week, the House settlement was placed on hold due to roster limits, Judge Claudia Wilken announced. She is giving attorneys 14 days to make tweaks, pushing for athletes on current rosters to not lose their scholarships or spots on teams, grandfathered in once it passes.

“We are closely reviewing Judge Wilken’s order,” the NCAA responded in a release. “Our focus continues to be on securing approval of this significant agreement, which aims to create more opportunities than ever before for student-athletes while fostering much-needed stability and fairness in college sports.”

The settlement would provide former athletes $2.8 billion in back-pay for lost NIL rights beyond current revenue-sharing to college athletics.

The new model for UK Athletics was proposed Thursday and will be reviewed by the UK Board of Trustees on Friday.