Penn State Pivots Quickly to Revenue Sharing, Roster Limits of House Settlement

One day before the House vs. NCAA lawsuit was settled, allowing college to pay athletes directly, Penn State football General Manager Andy Frank explained the contingencies, and headaches, he faced. Penn State was less than a month from activating contracts that included revenue sharing, which was not yet in place.

Frank certainly felt better Friday, after a judge approved the settlement, ensuring that it takes effect July 1. He also considered starting a new project.

"I think we [college sports general managers] all plan on writing the book one day on what it all looked like back then," Frank said.

While many athletic departments wonder how they're going to pay athletes up to $20.5 million per year, Penn State is aggressively pivoting to college football's new era. Athletic Director Pat Kraft published a letter in which he said that Penn State is in a "position of strength" regarding revenue sharing and increased scholarships. He also said that next season could be one of our best" regarding Penn State sports.

So how will Penn State approach the terms of the House vs. NCAA settlement? From a wider view, Penn State could be among the athletic departments that benefits most from the new terms of college sports.

How Penn State will handle revenue sharing

Kraft said that Penn State will share revenue to the annual cap, which begins at $20.5 million for the 2025-25 athletic year. Penn State has not detailed how it will divide that money, though Nittany Lions football will receive the largest percentage.

James Franklin's team could receive 75-80 percent of the $20.5 million, or in the range of $16 million for the first year. In addition, Penn State football players still will be able to negotiate outside Name, Image and Likeness deals as they can now.

Penn State men's basketball will receive the next-highest percentage, likely in the 10-percent range. The Nittany Lions' 29 other programs will divide the remaining share. There will be fluidity, though.

"We're trying to be able to manage the money so that if we need to move on someone, no matter what the sport is, we have the ability to say, 'Hey, there's the No. 1 fencer in the world, and we need to go use rev share to maybe tilt it our way,'" Kraft said. "We're going to be able to do that."

Frank said that Penn State football had been formulating contracts with multiple options, in case the settlement was not approved by July 1.

"You have to be adaptable," Frank said. "You have to be in a situation where you’re able to come up with plans for different scenarios and what those scenarios might look like and try to fit the needle through wherever it might end up going," Frank said before the ruling was published. "There’s a scenario where the House settlement passes here soon, and we move on with that plan. There’s a scenario where it doesn’t, and we move on down that direction. We’ll be prepared for whatever comes."

Penn State plans to increase scholarship numbers

Kraft has called the new roster limits potentially a huge benefit for Penn State. For example, Penn State football will have the option to place up to 105 players on scholarship, though the number likely will be smaller (but still above the current 85 limit). Through contributions to its program-specific Excellence Funds, Penn State seeks to raise more money for scholarships in individual sports.

As an example, the current scholarship limit for wrestling is 9.9. But next season, the scholarship limit will increase to 30. Kraft said that Cael Sanderson's team won't get 30 scholarships but will get a significant increase. Kraft called the higher scholarship limits a "huge advantage" for Penn State.

"One of the biggest pieces to the House case is pulling the restriction of scholarships off," Kraft said. "That's huge. That allows us to offer scholarships to all of our athletes if we can afford it. As we're out there raising money, we're trying to let people know that that as important as a $20.5 [million revenue share], and that gets all the headlines.

"... And so, we have the ability now to not only help our teams in the space of revenue share but also put a lot more of our student-athletes, If we do it right and we raise the right amount of money, on scholarships. That is a huge advantage for us."

Will Penn State have to cut athletes?

In the short term, no. The published settlement allows college teams that have cut athletes to offer them spots to return and complete their eligibility. However, it does not require teams to return roster spots to athletes.

In the future, however, Penn State coaches must meet their specific roster limits. For football, that is 105 players. Penn State's roster for the 2025 season could have as many as 128 players. Franklin chose not to cut players during spring drills in hopes that the settlement would grandfather in walk-ons with eligibility.

But in the future, Franklin will have to get his roster to 105 players in time for the season. He's no fan of that.

"What we do in the classroom is complimented by what we learn on the fields and the courts," Franklin said. "I'm fighting and scratching and clawing to hold onto what I believe college athletics is all about: having transformational experiences for student-athletes, not transactional. So I'm fighting. And that's why, to me, I wasn't going to cut to the 105 earlier than I had to, with hope that this may happen..."