Mark Harlan, Utah Ready To Embrace Revenue-Sharing Era
Jun 11, 2025, 2:06 PM
Harland discussed efforts being made to keep a footprint in Los Angeles for the Utes shortly after announcing a neutral-site game with Miami in 2027. Photo Cred: Michelle Bodkin, KSL Sports
SALT LAKE CITY — College sports are undergoing a full-blown overhaul, as the revenue-sharing era is officially here. Utah’s Mark Harlan has led preparations for the university to embrace these changes.
After an extended period of review, Senior District Judge Claudia Wilken approved the NCAA’s $2.75 billion settlement in the House v. NCAA case. Now, schools will be able to directly pay athletes.
Mark Harlan, Utah, is all in on revenue-sharing
“We are all-in on investing up to the maximum allowable in revenue share, which is approximately $20.5 million for 2025-26,” Utah AD Mark Harlan wrote in a letter to Utah supporters.
That $20.5 million figure is the target for the 2025–26 school year. Most will be divvied up between football and men’s basketball, but Utah is still finalizing exactly how much to each sport.
But the university’s commitment goes deeper. The full financial outlook for these athlete-focused changes will run close to $34 million. That includes 23 new scholarships, the implementation of direct NIL contracts between Utah and its athletes, and more structured opportunities for players to partner with businesses.
𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐔
In today’s evolving world of college athletics, the University of Utah Athletics remains steadfast in our commitment, support and investment in the success of our student-athletes.
🔗 https://t.co/rDVsnUhyNP#GoUtes | #ElevateU pic.twitter.com/ww9hAf3V6m
— Utah Athletics (@utahathletics) June 10, 2025
“The success our student-athletes have experienced could not have been possible without the work of our incredible Utah supporters, who are passionate about our student-athletes and our sport programs, and who stepped forward and provided our student-athletes with tremendous opportunities to make an impact in our community and grow their brands,” Harlan noted in that letter to Utah supporters.
Utah has been among the schools that have been in prep mode— adjusting revenue-sharing budgets, reworking department structures, and appears ready to distribute the maximum $20.5 million.
“We feel very good about where we’re at, we’ve been preparing for well over a year, we’ve had working groups internally looking at how we’re going to distribute revenue,” Harlan shared with KSL Sports. “We’re certainly going to be at the max distribution at the University of Utah, thanks to our great donors, our great administrative support, so we’re excited about it.”
Through Elevate U, Utah is looking for new opportunities
Revenue has always been important to sustaining athletic departments. With the revenue distribution directly to athletes on the horizon, a significant amount will be dedicated to that.
Elevate U was an initiative provided to student athletes to educate and promote opportunities and it remains a focal point to Utah student athletes.
“Through our existing Elevate U program, we have increased our investment with the addition of a Brand Strategy and Governance team dedicated to providing Utah student-athletes comprehensive support as they build their brand, enter into non-exclusive contracts for limited-use rights to their NIL, and profit,” Harlan shared in his letter.
Improving brand awareness will be significant in growing Utah’s NIL opportunities. Beyond that, Utah appointed a new chief revenue officer, Patrick Nowlin, who has been on the job for nine months. His primary duty is seeking out new, innovative ways to generate revenue streams.
“New revenue streams are being contemplated, and that’s really fun,” Harlan shared. “We brought in a new chief revenue officer who has really looked at different things we haven’t thought of before. We have a very entrepreneurial school president, who was the dean of the business school. So, we work very closely with him and his team, and we’re looking at things we haven’t contemplated before, and I think we’ve already seen some real uplift on that.”
