NCAA Revenue Sharing – Wrestling Teams

Estimated 2025-26 Revenue Sharing – Wrestling

Under the proposed settlement in House V NCAA, schools will be able to share revenue with their athletes not to exceed the lesser of 22% of their annual athletic revenues or $ 21 million per year. We analyzed the most recent NCAA financial reporting from several NCAA I public universities and arrived at some estimates for wrestling team revenue sharing scheduled to begin in the 2025-26 season:

Estimated Revenue
Sharing - Wrestling
ConferenceWrestling Team
Revenue Share
# of
Wrestlers
Average
per Wrestler
Revenue %
Wrestling
Est Revenue
Sharing 2025
Total 2023
Revenue *
Penn State Big Ten 317,808 30 10,594 1.5% 21,000,000 152,551,993
MissouriSEC 253,837 30 8,461 1.3% 19,418,455 88,265,705
Iowa State Big-12 85,716 30 2,857 0.5% 18,365,450 83,479,317
Ohio State Big Ten 83,313 30 2,777 0.4% 21,000,000 215,167,642
Illinois Big Ten 54,682 30 1,823 0.3% 21,000,000 99,358,957
MinnesotaBig Ten 40,826 30 1,361 0.2% 21,000,000 113,102,807
WisconsinBig Ten 29,685 29 1,024 0.1% 21,000,000 137,164,382
Appalachian State SBC 28,112 30 937 0.8% 3,626,477 16,483,988
P5 School Average7 123,695 30 4,128 0.6% 20,397,701 127,012,972

Estimated revenue sharing is allocated per team based on the percentage of that team’s revenues to revenue from all sports as reported in the school’s most recent (2023) NCAA financial reporting. A significant variable here is athletic department revenue not allocated to a specific team.  Based on the NCAA reports this can be anywhere from 6% to 37% of school athletic department revenue. Our estimates assume this non-specific revenue will be allocated in the same proportion as the team’s revenue percentage to all sports.

These are averages per athlete. In actuality, a few athletes per team will receive substantially higher than the average, while many will get much less. 

Football and Men’s basketball account for close to 95% of all specific team allocated revenues at Power Conference schools, and athletes in these two sports will be the major beneficiaries of revenue sharing. Consequently, revenue sharing available to athletes in virtually all other sports will be minimal to modest at most schools. The NCAA and its member schools are well aware of this disparity and have consequently proposed to significantly increase the number of potential scholarships available to NCAA athletes.

For wrestling, the proposal is to increase the maximum number of athletic scholarships from 9.9 to 30 per team – this will also represent the limit of wrestlers on an NCAA I roster.  So in theory, all 30 wrestlers could receive a full scholarship. However, scholarships awards are optional – a school can fully fund a sport, or make awards less than the maximum allowed. 

* 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.


Additions or Changes? Contact us at: [email protected]
 

Statistics compiled & edited by Patrick O’Rourke, CPA Washington, DC