BYU AD Brian Santiago Sees Revenue Sharing As ‘Strategic Advantage’
Jun 10, 2025, 3:22 PM
BYU athletics director Brian Santiago views revenue sharing as a "strategic advantage" for BYU. (Isaac Hale, Deseret News)
(Isaac Hale, Deseret News)
PROVO, Utah – The revenue sharing era has arrived in college athletics. Is BYU ready?
When federal judge Claudia Wilken approved a $2.8 billion settlement from the NCAA and the power conferences, it opened the door for universities to pay athletes directly.
It’s a complex situation, but in simple terms, schools that opt into revenue sharing can pay athletes within an entire athletic department up to $20.5 million.
That $20.5 million threshold is not mandatory to reach, but it’s the highest amount schools can pay back to the athletes.
Brian Santiago sees revenue sharing as a “strategic advantage” for BYU athletics
The current members from the Big 12, ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12, and SEC are participating in revenue sharing that the newly created College Sports Commission will handle. Schools outside those five conferences can opt in or out of revenue sharing each year.
Newly hired athletics director Brian Santiago, who has experienced a loaded first month on the job, shared some of his thoughts on Tuesday during an interview with BYUtv’s “BYU Sports Nation.”
“This actually shifts the power of college athletics back to the universities. Which, for us at BYU, we think it’s a strategic advantage, where it kind of evens the playing field back,” Santiago said to BYUtv. “It gives the universities the opportunity to invest in their student-athletes. And for us, it really feels like we can rise to the top doing it the right way, because we’re going to invest in the right student-athletes.
“We’re going to invest in the right things, and we’re going to tie all of these remarkable kids to the mission of this university. So it was met with anticipation. It was met with excitement. It was met with enthusiasm. And across the Big 12 schools and BYU, everyone’s pretty excited about the future of athletics now that it kind of comes out under an umbrella where we can all operate in a more strategic way, based on alignment.”
Will BYU pay out $20.5 million in year one of revenue sharing?
Last month at the Big 12 spring meetings in Orlando, KSL Sports spoke with Santiago and asked if his athletic department would pay out the full $20.5 million in the first year.
“We’ll see how it plays. That’s why they say, ‘up to’ $20.5 million,” Santiago said to KSL Sports at the Big 12 meetings in May. “We want to be competitive, but we’re also going to stay within the bounds that we have at BYU. … What I will tell you is, we’re going to be very competitive in the space, and we’re going to make sure that the revenue sports and the rest of our sports can be competitive nationally and be relevant. And it starts with football and basketball, and we’re going to be very competitive in that space.”
Santiago is “excited” for the new era of college athletics
There is no set number for what schools pay back to football and men’s basketball athletes. However, there have been estimates that 90% of the $20.5 million, if a school reaches that mark, goes back to football and men’s basketball players.
Santiago said on Tuesday with BYU Sports Nation that his athletic department is “excited” for revenue sharing and having the opportunity to pay up to $20.5 million back to the student-athletes.
He also noted that BYU has “budgets in place” for revenue sharing.
“The reality of it is, I’m really excited about it because I think it’s a strategic advantage for BYU,” Santiago said to BYUtv. “I think it’s going to allow us to be in a space where doing things the BYU way, focusing on the mission, investing in these world-class student-athletes that are coming to BYU for all of the right reasons. It takes a shift away from the money, back to where it should be, and I think it’s going to be a strategic advantage for BYU.”
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and hosts the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU in the Big 12 Conference on X: @Mitch_Harper.
