Estimated NCAA Revenue Sharing 2025-26: Pac-12 Schools
| NCAA Revenue Sharing Estimates 2025-26 * | Annual Revenue | 22% of Revenue | Est Revenue Sharing 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oregon State | 62,557,861 | 13,762,729 | 13,762,729 |
| Washington State | 59,390,920 | 13,066,002 | 13,066,002 |
| Average per School ** | $ 60,974,391 | $ 13,414,366 | $ 13,414,366 |
Football and Men’s basketball account for close to 95% of all specific team allocated revenues at most Power Conference schools, and athletes in these two sports will be the major beneficiaries of revenue sharing:
| Est Revenue Sharing 2025 | Revenue Sharing % | Revenue $ Share | Eligible Athletes | Average $ per Athlete |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Football | 82.9% | 11,129,274 | 105 | 105,993 |
| Mens Basketball | 12.1% | 1,614,987 | 15 | 107,666 |
| All Other Sports | 5.0% | 670,105 | 320 | 2,279 |
| Pac-12 Average | 100.00% | 13,414,366 | 440 |
* These are estimates of Revenue sharing per school allowed under the proposed NCAA revenue sharing model scheduled to become effective for the 2025-26 fiscal year. This table assumes each school will share 22% of its annual revenue with its athletes not to exceed the annual NCAA cap estimated to be $ 20.5 million for the 2025-26 fiscal year. However, any school can revenue share up to the $ 20.5 million cap even if it exceeds 22% of its annual revenue. Participation is optional, schools can elect not to share revenues with athletes, or share revenues at any amount less than the annual cap. The cap is estimated to increase to around $ 30 million annually per school over the next ten years. Revenue sharing is in addition to any 3rd party NIL compensation and athletic scholarships received by athletes.
These are averages per athlete. In actuality, a few players per team will receive substantially higher than the average, while many will get much less. For players who see little if any playing time, their revenue share will also likely be little or none.
** Ten Pac-12 schools departed the conference after the 2023-24 fiscal year due primarily to issues in negotiating a new TV contract, and revenue for the two true and steadfast schools remaining includes income from the now expired TV contract. Oregon State and Washington State are rebuilding the conference and to date, the Pac-12 has officially admitted Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Gonzaga, San Diego State and Utah State as member schools beginning with the 2026-27 academic year.
Computed Athletic Department revenue includes event tickets and admission fees, game guarantees, TV, media, licensing, advertising, sponsorships and royalty rights, bowl game, NCAA and conference distributions and all related revenues. Revenue does not include direct or indirect school support, student fees or unrecompensed (i.e. charitable) contributions to the athletic department from alumni and boosters. See our Methodology page for a summary of our data sources and procedures.
Estimated NIL Collective Funding 2024-25: Pac-12 Schools
| Pac-12 Conference 2023-24 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Member Schools - 2023 | 12 | |
| Member Schools - 2024 | 2 | |
| Average Collective Funding per School 2023-24 * | $ 6,472,447 | |
| Average Collective Funding per School 2024-25 * | $ 3,190,207 |
Note: The average funding per collective will decline substantially with the advent of revenue sharing beginning in the 2025-26 academic year. NIL collectives became a factor in college sports as they performed a function that schools were prohibited from doing themselves. However, with revenue sharing, schools can directly compensate athletes up to $ 20.5 million annually, and the reliance on collectives will be significantly reduced going forward. Schools are facing steep new financial obligations, and most will be looking to redirect booster contributions currently going to collectives, back to the schools to help pay for revenue sharing and increased scholarship commitments.
Pac-12 Conference Schools 2023-24:
School 2023
Conf2024
ConfCollective
Funding * Total
SupportTicket
SalesContributions
Arizona Pac-12 Big 12 $ 6,414,683 39,030,243 19,164,426 19,865,817
Arizona State Pac-12 Big 12 $ 5,689,877 34,620,152 14,144,182 20,475,970
California Pac-12 ACC $ 3,932,903 23,929,814 8,073,384 15,856,430
Colorado Pac-12 Big 12 $ 5,337,719 32,477,439 19,175,198 13,302,241
Oregon ** Pac-12 Big Ten $ 10,623,807 64,640,729 24,357,945 40,282,784
Oregon State Pac-12 Pac-12 $ 3,163,423 19,247,899 9,447,886 9,800,013
Southern Cal ** Pac-12 Big Ten n/a n/a n/a n/a
Stanford Pac-12 ACC n/a n/a n/a n/a
UCLA ** Pac-12 Big Ten $ 5,919,423 36,016,831 17,494,361 18,522,470
Utah Pac-12 Big 12 $ 7,252,969 44,130,809 15,286,819 28,843,990
Washington ** Pac-12 Big Ten $ 9,406,794 57,235,798 29,198,790 28,037,008
Washington State Pac-12 Pac-12 $ 3,216,991 19,573,838 9,299,636 10,274,202
* See our disclosure of Methodology as to how these estimates were arrived at.
** Big Ten Blues? Why the Four Pac-12 schools joining the Big Ten this year may soon regret their decision.
Listing of Pac-12 NIL Collectives by School:
| School | Collective(s) | |
|---|---|---|
| Oregon State | Dam Nation Collective | |
| Washington State | Cougar Collective |
Why a rebuilt Pac-12 should remain a Power 5 Conference:
In 2024 ten long-time members of the Pac-12 left to join new conferences. The two remaining Pac-12 schools – Oregon State and Washington State – have elected to rebuild the conference. So far Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Gonzaga, San Diego State and Utah State have been admitted as new members.
Should a rebuilt Pac-12 be considered a Power 5 conference? Many people are already saying that the “Power 5” is now the “Power 4”, but as ESPN college football analyst Lee Corso is fond of saying … not so fast my Friend.
Just by athletic competitiveness the new Pac-12 should be considered a Power Conference. This past football season, four of the Pac-12 schools had teams either ranked or receiving votes in the top 25 polls. In basketball, it was San Diego State playing UConn in the 2023 Men’s championship game, and Gonzaga has been in the NCAA final game twice in recent years. In baseball, Oregon State has won three national championships in the past 18 years, more than any other NCAA school. I could go on, but you get the point.
A merged Pac-12 / Mountain West Conference would have some impressive and unique characteristics that would be very attractive to broadcasters:
- Schools in 6 western states and counting.
- Fast growing media markets including San Diego, Denver, Seattle, Portland, Boise, Salt Lake City, Spokane and central California among others.
– - The average in-state undergraduate percentage of these schools is 77% – significantly higher than the departing Pac-12 schools. This indicates that school alumni are more likely to reside in the target media markets compared to schools with a higher percentage of out-of-state enrollment.
– - With departure of the other Pac-12 schools to conferences based in central and eastern time zones, the supply of Power 5 match-ups for the Pacific time zone late (7pm & 8pm) games will be decreased. The rebuilt Pac-12 would be able to effectively fill this upcoming shortage in available games for broadcast.
The effect of the ten departing Pac-12 schools moving to conferences based 2 to 3 hours east is significant, as games involving west coast versus mid-west and east coast teams are either going to be compacted into a smaller time frame for broadcast or result in non-optimal lick-off times. Coaches and fans of several of the former Pac-12 schools have already complained of the issues with new start times being either too late or too early. Some coaches have been vocal about late start times for “after dark” games, while Washington fans specifically are not enthused about some Big Ten away games that have a broadcast beginning at 9am in Seattle, when most Husky fans are still on their first soy decaf latte of the morning.
During 2023 current Pac-12 teams participated in 144 games. Of these, only 7 were played in the CT/ET time zones – this number spikes to 38 for the upcoming 2024 season due to the department of ten Pac-12 teams to conferences based in the mid-west and east:
SchoolTotal
Games
2023 -
PT/MT2023 -
CT/ET2024 -
PT/MT2024 -
CT/ET
Arizona 12 11 1 9 3
Arizona State 12 12 - 7 5
California 12 11 1 7 5
Colorado 12 11 1 8 4
Oregon 12 11 1 9 3
Oregon State 12 12 - 12 -
Southern Cal 12 11 1 9 3
Stanford 12 12 - 8 4
UCLA 12 12 - 8 4
Utah 12 11 1 9 3
Washington 12 11 1 8 4
Washington State 12 12 - 12 -
Totals 144 137 7 106 38
Another critical consideration is the impact of the lost regional rivalries on television viewership on the west coast. We are in uncharted territory for 2024 as there has never been a major conference that was in existence for 115 years that essentially dissolved overnight. The rivalries built over those years will be difficult for many viewers to let go, and about half of them have already disappeared – in 2023 there were 54 conference games featuring Pac-12 teams, in 2024 there will be only 28 featuring current or former Pac-12 teams.
In terms of viewer demand, we’ll see down the road if west coast viewers are going to be as compelled to tune into a Cal v Wake Forest ACC game or a Washington v Rutgers Big Ten contest compared to the historic west coast match-ups that have been the traditional staple of Pacific time zone television broadcasts. Whether conference realignment that drops long-time regional rivalries will pan out for the networks is literally the million-dollar question.
A rebuilt Pac-12 would be the smallest in revenue of the Power 5, but the current Pac-12 is also 5th in revenue production, mainly due to the fact that west coast schools in general just don’t generate the football dollars that the mid-west and southern schools do. But another factor is that a rebuilt Pac-12 would be to some extent the Power 5 for the middle class. The majority of the schools are land grant universities, schools originally tasked with providing a high quality and affordable education to students from working class families. And they do this very well – 77% of the combined undergraduate enrollment are in state residents who pay the much lower in state tuition – the highest percentage of any of the Power 5 conferences. Compare this to other public universities such as Alabama and Oregon, where the majority of undergraduates are out of state residents paying much higher tuition.
There is a developing crisis in the US post-secondary system. Fewer US high school graduates are going on to college, and the decline is especially striking among US males. At the end of the 2021-22 academic year, female enrollment represented almost 60% of college undergrads nationwide, while male enrollment has declined to only 40%. There are serious ramifications of this development to society at large, and there are a number of reasons for the decline. One of the reasons is affordability. Given this situation, a conference composed of schools that excel in providing high quality and affordable education to middle class students should be supported in its efforts, not designated as a “lower” league.
There is a creeping elitism in intercollegiate sports with valid speculation that big-time college football is heading towards 30 or 40 teams concentrated in a couple of super conferences. This would be immensely harmful for intercollegiate sports in general and specifically to all other schools that currently sponsor NCAA Division I athletics. The proposed NCAA revenue sharing model scheduled to take effect in 2025, will significantly widen the gulf between the haves and the have-nots. A positive check to this elitism would be not to reduce the number of power leagues to four, but to recognize the rebuilt Pac-12 as the legitimate Power 5 conference it will likely be.
Regionality in conferences should be embraced and not disregarded as being archaic. If TV football contracts are going to become the determining factor of who are members, you could very well end up with conferences looking closer to the Star Wars cantina scene, rather than a league of schools that actually look like they belong together.
But there are more compelling reasons – global warming and the well-being of student athletes. Pacific coast schools Stanford & Cal are moving to the Atlantic Coast Conference strictly for football TV dollars. So two schools that clearly know better are giving the proverbial shoulder shrug to global warming by tripling their annual fuel consumption flying all their teams cross country. Student athletes are already challenged in balancing academic and athletic time loads. Substantially increasing the time spent traveling is simply an added burden to student athletes, without any upside to them. Unlike most of the ten departing schools, I hope the rebuilt Pac-12 takes all these issues into consideration.
Additions or Changes? Contact us at: [email protected]
Statistics compiled & edited by Patrick O’Rourke, CPA Washington, DC 