18-03-2025
Will revenue sharing widen the gap between Penn State wrestling and everyone else?
Seven years ago, Arkansas-Little Rock made a bold decision. The Trojans, behind a $1.4 million pledge from Little Rock businessman Greg Hatcher, went all-in on establishing the state's only NCAA Division I wrestling program.
'When you think about one program or another, they may be known as a football school or a basketball school,' said Little Rock athletic director Frank Cuervo, who is finishing his first year at the school. 'Well, we think we certainly have an opportunity to be known as a school for multiple sports, certainly wrestling being one of those right there at the forefront.'
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This wasn't like adding wrestling in a state steeped in the sport's history and tradition like Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin or Iowa. Wrestling wasn't a sanctioned high school sport in Arkansas until 2008. The newness of the sport is still reflected on Little Rock's roster as this year — its sixth season with a wrestling program — just two of 40 wrestlers have ties to the state.
'It wasn't an overnight success by any stretch,' Cuervo said. 'As (coach) Neil (Erisman) often says, we got our teeth kicked in on frequent occasions those first couple of years, but they stayed dogged, and last year was really the breakthrough year.'
The Trojans have one of the best stories in college wrestling. The winner of this year's Pac-12 tournament for the first time in program history, Little Rock will send a program-record six wrestlers to the NCAA championships this week in Philadelphia. Among those are two All-America honorees from last season who turned down more lucrative offers from other programs to stay at Little Rock, Cuervo said.
Little Rock's rise from newcomer to top-15 program — the Trojans are 15th in the NWCA Coaches Poll and finished last season ranked 20th — might make them the perfect case study for wrestling's next challenge.
As college wrestling fans convene in Philadelphia, they'll cheer for a sport that could be on the verge of significant changes. The House vs. NCAA settlement, which will have a final hearing on April 7, could reshape the sport. If approved, one part of the settlement would allow schools to opt into revenue sharing with their athletes. This change would take effect for the 2025-2026 school year and would allow universities to directly pay athletes.
Each school would decide how to distribute up to $20.5 million to its athletes. This change would bring about roster limits that would replace scholarship limits.
For wrestling, which has 9.9 scholarships per team, including partial scholarships, the roster would be capped at 30 athletes.
What sports and what percentage, if any, of the revenue the teams receive could be significant for wrestling where the divide between the top program and everyone else has given way to several dynasties. Penn State, a winner of 11 NCAA team titles since 2011 and the favorite to win another championship this year, will have wrestling as part of the school's revenue-sharing plan, athletic director Pat Kraft said.
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Penn State expects to have the full allotment of $20.5 million available to share among the university's athletes.
'I always tell Cael (Sanderson), we're going to do whatever we need to do to give you all you need and the resources you need,' Kraft said of his program's longtime coach. 'I don't envision — and I may be wrong on this — but I don't envision any program doing 30 scholarships for wrestling. But we're going to give Cale what he needs, and I can tell you that we've added scholarships for him in the future.'
Sanderson's team won the NCAA title last year by 100 points, setting an NCAA record with 172.5 points. Oklahoma State, which made the splashiest coaching hire of the offseason by bringing in Olympian David Taylor, Sanderson's protege, plans to have wrestling as part of the school's revenue-sharing plan, athletic director Chad Weiberg.
The Cowboys, winners of a record 34 NCAA team titles, are in the process of raising funds for a new training facility that would have space for the regional Olympic Training Center program, which is a critical component to building an elite wrestling program that attracts the best wrestlers in the world. The regional training center is part of the blueprint that helps the best college wrestling programs separate themselves from the rest of the pack.
Revenue sharing for these wrestling programs should only add to their power.
'I think the top programs are going to just get stronger, right?' Sanderson said. 'You're going to have more depth in those programs. I don't think very many programs are going to have 30 scholarships. I mean, we're definitely not going to have 30 scholarships, not even close. But, we are going to have more scholarships. I think the team dynamic changes a little bit. I think there's some sad aspects of that.'
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Sanderson said Penn State typically has 37 or 38 wrestlers on the roster. This year, Little Rock has 41. Oklahoma State has 34. Capping the roster at 30 would mean those other wrestlers couldn't compete or practice with the team. Enforcement of who is in the wrestling room training, and ensuring the number aligns with the roster cap, is a detail not yet determined. It would pain Sanderson to see his roster shrink.
'A lot of times, those seven or eight are the ones that are really grateful to be on your team, those are the ones that are supporting the program 10, 15, years later,' Sanderson said. 'It's one thing to love the sport when you're just doing really well and kicking butt. You got to really love the sport if you go to practice, and you're getting your butt kicked every day, and you keep coming back, and you still love it.'
Conversations between athletic directors and their coaches about what percentage of revenue could be shared with their athletes are happening on campuses nationwide. Many athletic directors are keeping their revenue-sharing percentages close to the vest for competitive reasons. Others are waiting for final approval of the settlement before discussing their plans publicly.
Athletic directors at Nebraska, Minnesota, Ohio State, Iowa State, Missouri, Northern Iowa and Pitt — schools that emphasize wrestling or who are in regions where the sport thrives — were among those who declined to comment on their school's scholarship and revenue-sharing plans for wrestling. Iowa, the No. 2 team in the country, would seem likely to have a revenue-share plan in place for wrestling.
For programs that don't have the financial resources or whose schools elect to dedicate most of their revenue sharing to other sports like football and basketball — programs that generate revenue in part because of lucrative television agreements that wrestling lacks — is it realistic to think these other wrestling programs can even compete for team titles in the future?
'When we made the decision to opt in (to revenue sharing), I think what we were saying, not only as an athletics program but as an institution overall, is that athletics matter here,' Cuervo said. 'Ultimately, for us, we have to make decisions about which programs we're going to choose to invest at a higher level and place our bets on. And of course, if you place a bet on a particular entity, you want to make sure that it has a chance to come home and bear fruit.'
Wrestling, along with men's and women's basketball, will be among the sports that are part of Little Rock's revenue-sharing plan, Cuervo said. The school sponsors 15 sports, and it plans to increase the number of scholarships for wrestling, although the final figure is still to be determined. The notion that a school with the right alignment, coaching staff and investment can quickly become a powerhouse in wrestling is why Little Rock believes the sport should be part of their identity as a university.
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'You're looking at a universe of roughly 80 Division-I wrestling programs,' Cuervo said. 'You're not trying to swim your way upstream and pass 360 Division-I college basketball programs. If you make the right commitments and have the right support, you can get good in a hurry.'
Oklahoma State will also have more than 9.9 scholarships in the revenue-sharing world, Weiberg said. It figures its scholarship number ultimately will be similar to whatever Penn State's is, Weiberg said. The school needs it to be comparable to close the gap.
'You have to keep it in a range,' Weiberg said. 'The student-athletes and their families are still making decisions based on who are the coaches, who's training my son and who's developing them. … You're not wanting to ask kids to take less to be part of your program. … We have to make sure that we're in the competitive range with Iowa, with Penn State, with the others in the sport.'
In its first season under Taylor, Oklahoma State set a season attendance record and has seen an increase in contributions from donors, Weiberg said.
Still, Weiberg was upfront with Oklahoma State fans and sent them an email this winter outlining his desire for the Cowboys to have the full allotment of revenue sharing available to their athletes. Programs that don't have the maximum to share will be fighting an uphill battle, he said.
'I think there are some realities that we all are just dealing with that are very similar across the board, and one of them is funding,' Weiberg said. 'The other is how that all fits into our Title IX mix, which is certainly still a reality of what we have to do as we transition from scholarship limits to roster limits.'
Last month, Penn State announced the creation of the Legacy Fund in response to the pending House decision. Money from the fund will be used for athletic scholarships and ongoing maintenance of Penn State's 23 athletic venues. Football season ticket holders will be the first to notice a $20 per seat contribution to the fund as they go through their renewal process.
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For each Penn State football season parking pass there will be a $45 fee that goes to the Legacy Fund. Fans can't opt out of either charge. They could see additional fees for postseason games. Penn State's single-game tickets and single-game parking will include fees that go toward building the Legacy Fund.
Oklahoma State will increase season ticket prices for all sports and will direct a portion of that money to its Excellence Fund, Weiberg said. Penn State and Oklahoma State were adamant that they're not calling it a talent fee, which is what Tennessee rolled out in September when it announced plans starting in 2025 to add a 10 percent fee on all tickets to help pay athletes in the new era of revenue sharing.
'At the end of the day, it's a price increase,' Weiberg said.
All schools will have to be strategic about how the money is raised, shared and spent. By next spring it could make catching the giants of the sport harder than ever.
'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 do so,' Kraft said. '(If it's) 'Hey, there's the No. 1 fencer in the world,' and we need to go use rev share to maybe tilt it our way, we're going to be able to do that.'
