How Will Mark Harlan Navigate Utah Through Revenue Sharing?
Aug 18, 2025, 8:00 AM | Updated: 3:33 pm
Harlan has earned yet another title as he will be an advisor for the Olympic and Paralympic Collegiate Advisory Council starting fall of 2024. (Photo Cred: Utah Athletics)
(Photo Cred: Utah Athletics)
SALT LAKE CITY—College sports have officially crossed into the revenue sharing era — and the first steps look more like chaos than clarity. Utah athletic director Mark Harlan and Jason Greco, Utah’s executive senior associate athletic director for governance and brand strategy, fielded questions in a town hall ahead of Fan Fest over the weekend.
It’s an entirely new landscape without much coherence, even with the sweeping new rules that went live on July 1.
Together, they offered a candid look at how the Utes plan to navigate their piece of the House Settlement.
In the new rev-share era, Utah’s goals remain the same
Utah’s move from the collapsing Pac-12 to the Big 12 provided financial security. The Big 12’s upcoming media rights deal (2025–2031) is worth about $2.2–$2.3 billion, raising the average annual payout from roughly $28 million to over $31 million per school. In total distributions (including TV, playoff, and NCAA payouts), Big 12 members are projected to approach $50 million annually.
For Utah, the exit from the Pac-12’s collapse led to a $17 million budget deficit and slashed athletic revenue to $109.8 million (down from $126.3M the year prior). Now, after a year in the new conference, the full benefits will materialize, as increased media and postseason revenues begin to flow.
Thank you to all of our amazing fans that came out to Fan Fest and helped us kick off the 2025-26 athletics season 🙌#GoUtes pic.twitter.com/CkUEuvq3MG
— Utah Athletics (@utahathletics) August 17, 2025
Why is that important? Well, Utah must balance these gains against a groundbreaking new expense: direct revenue-sharing payments to athletes.
Beginning in the 2025–26 academic year, all Division I programs can distribute up to $20.5 million per year to their student-athletes across all sports. Utah’s leadership has made it clear they intend to fully fund this cap.
“Our goal is to graduate students and win championships,” Utah AD Mark Harlan shared. “We knew that something like this was coming a few years ago. And we decided then, with the board of trustees and our incredible president, Taylor Randall, that we were going to be all in on this settlement at the full amount.”
In other words, Utah’s athletic department is effectively taking on a new ~$20–25 million annual obligation – akin to a “salary” pool for players – overnight. So, how will that revenue be split among all sports?
Harlan avoided specifics, but the majority of schools across the country have chosen a split of 75% football, 15% men’s basketball, 5% women’s basketball, and 5% all other sports.
How will Utah be paying the revenue-share?
Funding an extra $20+ million per year is a serious challenge, even with TV money. The department will draw on multiple sources to cover these payments. Harlan didn’t provide specifics, but mentioned reserves and working closely with President Randall to cover this new payroll.
Utah is also ramping up fundraising from donors and sponsors. The dissolution of the private Crimson Collective (Utah’s NIL booster club) in 2025 means booster contributions can be integrated directly into the athletic budget for this purpose. The program recently announced that they’ve set a new record for donations for the third consecutive year.
‼️ 𝑻𝑯𝑨𝑵𝑲 𝑼 ‼️
To all Crimson Club Members for your record breaking year – thank you!
We look forward to a bright future as we continue to build champions and impact generations. #GoUtes pic.twitter.com/JTKq9j3aGq
— Crimson Club (@CrimsonClub) August 14, 2025
In addition, behind the Elevate U program, Utah now has a staff in place to mine for NIL opportunities for its student-athletes.
“That’s really the program that we’re diving into right now, we’re developing, and we’ve added staff to this,” Greco explained. “It’s really hone on two parts, enhancing our education with our student athletes. The second piece of this is we have staff on the ground working with our corporate sponsors, the local community, and our national sponsors to have true NIL deals with our student athletes.”
Mark Harlan: “We certainly have some athletes on multi-year deals”
“Since the settlement was signed on June 6, we’ve had about 100, and I’d say now, and it goes up every day, about 150 to 160 student athletes sign NIL (revenue-sharing) contracts with us,” Utah’s Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director for Governance and Brand Strategy, Jason Greco, shared.
Among those deals, Utah even has a select number of student athletes signed to multi-year deals. Something Harlan pointed to as a deterrent to transfer portal “poaching,” but also acknowledged the reality of it all.
“We certainly have some athletes on multi-year deals,” he shared before explaining that contract terms could play a role in protecting programs. “There could be some punishment depending on the way the contract’s written in terms of, you know, just like if any coach were to up and leave.”
He admitted that they don’t have many athletes signed to multi-year deals, which allows the threat of “poaching” to persist.
“For the time being, we’re still expecting probably more poaching, if that’s even the right word,” Harlan shared. “I think some of that behavior is going to get better. I will say this, ‘poaching’ is going to the new entity (College Sports Commission) that’s going to be doing compliance.”
The College Sports Commission should help, but unlikely to address all issues
The College Sports Commission (CSC) is a newly established organization created to oversee the new revenue-sharing model in college sports. It’s designed to address issues related to name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals, the transfer portal, athlete employment status, and conference stability.
“There is a new entity outside of the NCAA that will be enforcing this; they’ve hired a pretty great, pretty big-time staff,” Harlan shared. “They have subpoena powers, and if the cases get really serious, they can render punishments. Now, until we see someone get punished, I think all of us will be hoping that people are doing the right thing.”
Plenty remains to be seen from the new commission, and even Harlan acknowledged throughout the meeting that legislative measures are the only route to “fixing” college athletics.
Regardless of all that, on the field and court, Utah’s competitive position still looks strong.
In football, the Utes hope to return to championship contention in the Big 12. In men’s basketball, improvement is expected as the program aligns itself with Big 12 standards and exploits new funding for recruiting. While Utah women’s basketball, gymnastics, and all other sports continue to compete at the top of the conference.
