Under the new NCAA payment system, Syracuse University will officially start paying its athletes directly.
SU Athletic Director John Wildhack said on Tuesday the university will pay athletes from its “most visible” teams, including football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball. It will also start to pay some of its lacrosse players under a revenue-sharing model.
The new payment system will allow schools to pay athletes up to $20.5 million next year, with SU following a similar model to most schools and diverting most of that budget to its high-profile sports like football and basketball.
Also in line with most schools, Wildhack didn’t reveal how much money would be provided to each program, but he did say that Syracuse would add more scholarships to its men’s lacrosse and women’s lacrosse and field hockey teams.
Wildhack also said that some programs would have fewer scholarships available, but didn’t specify which. While SU will provide its football team with more funding, Wildhack said the number of scholarships available for the team will remain at 85.
With all the changes, he said that the total number of scholarships Syracuse would provide across all its sports would increase under the new system.
The athletic director also said that Syracuse intends to use the full budget in the first year under the new system, but didn’t commit to using all of it next year or in future years.
To fund its spending under the new system, Wildhack said that Syracuse began preparing to directly pay its athletes last year and launched a fundraising campaign to help raise the necessary funds. SU Chancellor Kent Syverud said previously that the university’s athletic department ran a small deficit last year, raising concerns about the school’s spending.
Wildhack stressed that while some open positions in the athletic department have remained unfilled, SU has not laid off employees due to any financial strain. He also said that the university would avoid cutting entire programs like some of its peers have, and that SU would continue to rely on its revamped NIL collectives to support its athletics.
The athletic director concluded by saying he thought the new system would be beneficial for Syracuse and was optimistic about the area’s economic growth.
With plenty of changes to how SU pays its athletes under the new NIL system, there should be plenty of extra eyes on the university’s athletic programs this year to see whether Wildhack is right and if Syracuse sports can still succeed in a new era.
