{"id":5638,"date":"2026-08-20T13:09:55","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T13:09:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=5638"},"modified":"2026-08-20T13:09:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T13:09:55","slug":"you-are-paying-for-your-favorite-college-athlete-now-the-next-stage-of-the-arms-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=5638","title":{"rendered":"You are paying for your favorite college athlete now: \u2018the next stage of the arms race\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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With universities\u00a0competing to pay athletes\u00a0millions of dollars, some states now are propping up their strained sports budgets in ways not previously seen. The state dollars aren\u2019t going directly to star athletes. But by funding\u00a0facilities\u00a0and administrative costs normally borne by the schools, states are freeing universities to use their own dollars for other purposes.<\/p>\n

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The athletics program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, for the first time, is receiving $3 million earmarked from state sports betting taxes. Wisconsin lawmakers approved $15 million for athletic costs at the University of Wisconsin. And Connecticut and Louisiana also are using tax dollars to support college athletics. Even more states have considered it.<\/p>\n

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Sports business analysts see an emerging trend.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce one state provides that kind of assistance, schools in competing states can argue that they are being placed at a competitive disadvantage, which could create additional pressure on legislatures to respond,\u201d said Daniel McIntosh, faculty director of the sports business program at Arizona State University.<\/p>\n

Legal cases have accelerated spending on college athletes<\/h2>\n

NCAA rules long barred college athletes from getting paid by schools and boosters. But under pressure from lawsuits and states,\u00a0the NCAA\u00a0cleared the way in 2021 for athletes to receive money from private entities for the use of their name, image or likeness (NIL). Then\u00a0a legal settlement\u00a0last year allowed higher education institutions to directly pay athletes a total of about $20.5 million annually \u2014 on top of any scholarships and other NIL deals they receive.<\/p>\n

That cap rose to $21.3 million for this school year, and is set to rise again the following year.<\/p>\n

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Many mid-level programs cannot afford that much. But almost all NCAA Division I athletic programs are trying to generate more money to pay athletes in a bid to remain competitive with their peers. At the same time, schools have been incurring greater costs for facilities, coaches\u2019 salaries and travel amid\u00a0conference realignments\u00a0that discarded old geographic-based rivalries.<\/p>\n

Over the past four years, athletic operating expenses at public Division I institutions shot up by nearly a third \u2014 notably outpacing revenue and running up deficits, according to an Associated Press analysis using the Knight-Newhouse College Athletics Database.<\/p>\n

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Federal legislation could drive athletic costs even higher<\/h2>\n

The\u00a0Protect College Sports Act, pending in the U.S. Senate, has been promoted as a way to put guardrails on college sports spending. But it could potentially allow even greater spending by schools.<\/p>\n

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The latest version\u00a0would allow institutions to pay up to an additional $27.5 million annually to retain players on their rosters, pushing the overall athlete payment cap close to $50 million. The higher ceiling could reduce the demand for third-party NIL deals.<\/p>\n

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But the legislation contains no provision restraining increases in state and institutional funding for athletics, said Amy Privette Perko, CEO of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout some restraint on the underlying spending competition, additional public funding could simply finance the next stage of the arms race,\u201d McIntosh said.<\/p>\n

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States are routing money to schools in creative ways<\/h2>\n

When North Carolina\u00a0launched online sports wagering\u00a0in 2024, it earmarked part of the tax revenue for athletic departments at 13 public universities. But the two largest institutions \u2014 the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University \u2014 were excluded.<\/p>\n

That changed in July under a new state budget that raises the sports betting tax. Those two schools now are projected to receive $3 million each this year and $5.8 million next year.<\/p>\n

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In the meantime,\u00a0Louisiana also hiked its sports wagering tax\u00a0and earmarked about $2.2 million to each of its 11 public universities in conferences with Division I football programs.<\/p>\n

Seeking to drum up athletic revenue, Connecticut lawmakers authorized the University of Connecticut to issue vouchers for state tax credits equal to half the amount of donations, sponsorships and licensing endorsements. The program generated $1.7 million in its first four months, according to a university report.<\/p>\n

New Jersey\u2019s new budget allots $5 million for \u201cevents attraction and marketing\u201d at Rutgers\u2019 flagship campus. A university spokesperson declined to say if the money would be used for athletic programs.<\/p>\n

Though not providing new state money, the governing board for Florida\u2019s universities last year\u00a0authorized institutions to transfer\u00a0up to $22.5 million to athletics. Florida State University did so almost immediately, and other schools have since followed.<\/p>\n

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Lawmaker says a bad football team is bad for the state<\/h2>\n

The Wisconsin budget provides $14.6 million for athletic facility debt payments at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and $200,000 each for the Milwaukee and Green Bay campuses.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of that state funds technically would go toward student athletes,\u201d said Republican state Rep. Alex Dallman, who sponsored the legislation.<\/p>\n

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But with the state covering facility debt, the university could use its own funds \u201cfor other things, such as NIL, or just trying to compete,\u201d said Dallman, who typically attends a couple Wisconsin football games each year.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving a bad football team, having uncompetitive college sports in general, would not be beneficial to our state, both culturally or economically,\u201d Dallman said. \u201cSo we decided as a state we\u2019d help out.\u201d<\/p>\n

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North Carolina, Wisconsin, Connecticut and Louisiana are using public money to support college athletics as schools face rising costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nYou are paying for your favorite college athlete now: \u2018the next stage of the arms race\u2019 - Cross Country Moving Team<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=5638\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"You are paying for your favorite college athlete now: \u2018the next stage of the arms race\u2019 - 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