Big Ten media days: Beth Goetz sheds light on Iowa athletics' revenue sharing plan

USA Today

24-07-2025

Iowa athletics director Beth Goetz joined the Hawkeye contingent that descended upon Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas for Big Ten media days on Thursday.
Goetz broached a number of topics, including the new courtside riser seating section that is being implemented for men's and women's basketball and for Hawkeye wrestling during the coming 2025-26 athletics seasons.
In addition to the future of Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Goetz was asked how the revenue sharing process has gone for Hawkeye athletics thus far after Judge Claudia Wilken approved the House v. NCAA settlement in early June that paved the way for schools to play athletes directly.
"We've been really pleased. It's gone really smoothly in terms of the operationalizing of making that distribution. For many of our athletes, we made a first payment on July 1. No issues. It went relatively smoothly. I think it's already been reported that we're working through Venmo and so they were a really good partner. A lot of leg work and things like that to get it uploaded, but it went as smoothly as it could," Goetz said.
Goetz was asked if every athlete or sport on campus would receive revenue sharing or if it was exclusive to a select list of sports.
"Every athlete on our campus will not receive revenue sharing. So, we made decisions based on the first year, so we really looked at this as a snapshot in time with the ability again to pivot as we needed to. So, certainly focused on our revenue sports.
"Doesn't mean you may not have a sprinkling of others. We have some scholarship pieces that will be a part of that as well. But, we'll have to see how it all plays out and how we need to adjust to the market to what our peers are doing etcetera as we go forward," Goetz said.
Goetz didn't reveal which sports would be receiving revenue share payments, but indicated that the Hawkeyes' largest revenue generators would be considered first.
"Well, it's sort of a moving target. At the end of the year, we'll have to see. Clearly, we're focused on men's, women's basketball and football and wrestling is a priority for us as well. But, there'll be a smattering of other individuals I think along the way that we'll see," Goetz said.
There's still uncertainty beyond the initial House v. NCAA settlement. Yahoo! Sports' Ross Dellenger reported earlier this week that attorneys for the House plaintiffs have struck an agreement with the power conferences and NCAA officials to amend the decision-making from the industry's new enforcement arm, the College Sports Commission, related to how booster-backed collectives can compensate athletes.
Per Dellenger, as part of the agreement, the College Sports Commission is expected to treat collectives or any 'school-associated entity' in a similar fashion as other businesses when determining the legitimacy of third-party NIL deals submitted to the CSC's NIL Go clearinghouse.
This may relax some of the roadblocks that could exist for Iowa's SWARM collective as it pertains to exceeding the $20.5 million revenue share "cap."
"A little more clarity would obviously be nice. But, at the end of the day, right now, all of that really just lies in terms of the settlement agreement. So, that's working with the plaintiffs lawyers and trying to figure out what that piece is going to play out.
"It's helpful because I think Brad (Heinrichs) and I have a good relationship. We talk all the time. Just trying to get comfortable saying, hey, 'We're going to make the best decision we can today with the information we know and then pivot if we learn something else.' Probably since COVID, I think that's the way we've all had to operate in athletics for a while. And so you learn to get pretty comfortable in having a few contingency plans and just waiting to make plans to adjust in another six weeks or so," Goetz said.
Iowa recently launched its Flight Funds program which is designed to support revenue sharing for football, men's basketball, women's basketball and men's wrestling, along with a general support Flight Fund.
"Driving revenue has always been a priority at this level in college athletics and it's going to continue to be, so the different avenues that we have to do that, obviously being able to do a good chunk of that in-house now is helpful, and so we've got a lot of different strategies going on there.
"But, depending on how settlement terms play out with collectives, we'll have to see if there's some things we can continue to do and to support from a third party, whether that's in a true collective form or something we work that into going forward. But, it's a lot of resource. We all know that is a component of it, but I think we're going to be well positioned to make sure we're at the table and can execute," Goetz said.
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