How BYU, Utah athletic leaders are preparing for NCAA's $2.8B House settlement

PROVO — The first month of Brian Santiago's tenure as BYU athletic director have been eventful, to say the least, and one of the biggest changes of his brief time in the lead chair of the BYU athletic department came down late Friday night.

That's when U.S. Judge Claudia Wilken approved the terms of the $2.8 billion House v. NCAA settlement, putting an end to three combined lawsuits against college sports' governing body that will, among other things, usher in up to $20.5 million of revenue sharing next season for college athletes at every Division I program across the country.

Like most Utahns, Santiago caught wind of the approval well after hours — "which I think may have been a little bit strategic," he quipped during an interview four days later with BYUtv — but the Cougars met it with "anticipation," he added.

"What it really did was give us time to prepare," Santiago said. "We have a great team in BYU athletics and the administration, we were prepared, we were ahead of the game, and it was met with some excitement.

"This actually shifts the power of college athletics back to the universities," said Santiago, adding that's "where it should be."

"For us at BYU, we think that's a strategic advantage," he added. "It kind of evens the playing field back, 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.

"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 these remarkable kids to the mission of this university."

Santiago said that sentiment was shared by most of his counterparts across the Big 12 during the conference's annual spring meetings in Orlando. That includes his counterpart on the Hill in Salt Lake City, from where Utah athletic director Mark Harlan sent a letter to fans Monday claiming the Utes were "prepared to fully embrace" the House settlement.

Harlan said that a reorganized Utah athletic department was "all in on investing" in the maximum allowed revenue share, which is expected to rise as high as $30 million by the early 2030s from its $20.5 million allowance in 2025-26.

He also said the university will add 23 new scholarships valued at $1.15 million while implementing NIL contracts between the university and its athletes, as well as "expanded student-athlete endorsement opportunities with businesses and organizations."

"In recent years, our athletics programs have enjoyed significant and sustained success, and we are committed to building upon that as we compete for championships at both the conference and national level," Harlan said. "We have a renewed commitment to the culture of excellence that supports our student-athletes for success in the classroom, competition and community."

In the interview with BYUtv, Santiago didn't mention whether the Cougars would meet the maximum allowed shareable revenue with its athletes. But he did call the approved revenue sharing "a strategic advantage" for BYU, and said the university will continue administering Alston awards, which are education-related, financial awards of up to $5,980 annually per athlete that schools could administer for the past three years.

"We're way out ahead of it," he said. "We already have a plan in place, we already have budgets in place, and Cougar Nation as a whole has come to the table saying 'we want to invest in these student-athletes for all the right reasons.'"

House settlement reaction

How Big 12, other local administrators reacted to Friday's House settlement approval

Count Brett Yormark in favor of the settlement approval of the House v. NCAA lawsuit that U.S. Judge Claudia Wilken issued late Friday night.

Santiago said that team includes representatives from athletic department's financial, compliance, women's sports, and others focusing on "investing in our student-athletes in a very unique way."

"We have to be competitive," he said. "But what we can really do is start focusing on preparing these men and women to go change the world.

"It's a revenue share model that we think actually works."

Part of the model means investing in the highest-revenue sports, beginning with football. After that comes men's basketball, Santiago said, followed by Olympic and non-revenue sports.

"We are all invested in all of our sports," Santiago said, after declaring that "football is the ship."

"There are a lot of universities saying they are only going to invest in 2-3 Olympic sports," he added. "We're going to invest in all of our sports. We want all of our student-athletes to feel the impact of this and be at a place where they can chase their dreams. ... We want to spread it out so that the remaining resources go to all of our sports, so that we can continue to invest at a high level and make sure we are getting the right student-athletes to come to BYU."

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