Clemson embraces new NIL, revenue landscape but the upcoming months are critical

Graham Neff is Clemson's Athletic Director.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Nov 26, 2024, 7:18 AM

It’s a new day in collegiate athletics, and as the landscape changes monthly, weekly, and even daily, schools are working to not only keep up but also stay ahead of those changes. Clemson’s new day is also here as the administration works to put the university and athletics in a favorable position for long-term success moving forward.

To that end, Clemson Athletics and IPTAY are communicating with IPTAY donors. There was a Zoom call last night, and an email will be sent out later today detailing how Clemson will excel in this new paradigm.

It’s important to note that the changes – and plans – have been in the works for months, but the messaging comes at a critical time.

Much of it centers on the proposed House v. NCAA settlement, which includes the landmark $2.78 billion settlement of three separate antitrust cases facing the NCAA and power conferences. That settlement received preliminary approval in early October and it will begin clearing the way for schools to begin paying players directly through revenue sharing as early as 2025.

The House vs. NCAA proposed settlement opens the door for change by:

(1) Abolishing scholarship limits in favor of roster limits.

(2) Allowing institutions to provide a national standard share of revenue to student-athletes.

(3) Providing needed and necessary third-party enforcement and accountability for NIL transactions.

By eliminating the cap on scholarships within the new roster limit model, Clemson can invest even further in student-athletes across all of the athletic programs. Clemson has plans to add 150 new full scholarships across all sports, an impactful change for many sports. For example, baseball has long had to survive on just 11.7 scholarships and that number will now go to 34. Soccer has lived with 9.9 scholarships, but Mike Noonan will now have 28 at his disposal.

Some schools have said that they will not share the maximum allowable revenue with their student-athletes, which is up to approximately $20.5 million in 2025-26 and a cap that is the same for all schools nationally. However, we’ve been told that Clemson plans to fully embrace that number. During a conversation late Sunday with someone who has been in conversations with other schools, we learned that those schools plan to distribute that wealth via a 75/15/5/5 model (75 percent to football, 15 to men’s basketball, five to women’s basketball and five to other sports). A school like South Carolina might choose to invest more than 5 percent in women’s basketball, but the numbers will remain close to that model.

I’ve been told that Clemson plans to invest significantly more in football and establish a centralized "front office" to oversee contract details, compliance, and allocation strategy. In other words, out of the people I’ve contacted, no one will allocate more to football than Clemson.

Georgia Tech is hiring a member of the Chicago Bears front office, J.J. Cosh, for a newly created revenue-share role, and the expectation is that Clemson will hire someone (or someones) in a similar role. Why is this important? As the professionalization of college sports – football especially – accelerates, it will be important to have someone oversee all of the details so the coaches can recruit and coach.

NIL (Name/Image/Likeness) is front-and-center when it comes to recruiting, the transfer portal, and the retention of current players. The timing of all this is what makes the announcement critical—with just seven months until the changes take place on July 1, 2025, raising money is paramount to the athletic department.

If approved, this settlement would begin paying back damages in May 2025 and go into full effect in the Fall of 2025. Why is this a critical juncture? Because the future state is not yet fully implemented, the present picture is drawing to a close, and this is a key time from a roster management perspective.

The collectives – like Clemson’s 110 Society – have played an important role in providing NIL opportunities over the last two years. But how can a collective and IPTAY co-exist at a place like Clemson, with a smaller alumni base? One new solution? All contributions to the 110 Society made between July 1, 2024 and June 30, 2025 will be eligible to earn IPTAY Priority Points now.

Additionally, an anonymous donor has pledged to match all contributions to 110 Society dollar-for-dollar up to $6 million.

There are many layers to this, and it doesn’t take much time perusing social media or a team message board to see that some fans feel Clemson is either unwilling or unable to pay for top talent or that its way of doing things is broken.

That’s not true at all. Current players are compensated via fair market value and above – and head coach Dabo Swinney told the media recently that you can’t survive in today’s game unless you are paying recruits. And yes, the recent loss of recruits to higher bidders has given rise to those perceptions. However, this allows Clemson to compete financially on a more level playing field.

But as I’ve mentioned, the next seven months are critical to future success. It’s important to note this: Clemson's academic side points toward having the No. 1 student experience, and athletics wants the same thing for its student-athletes while doing all of this in a true Clemson manner. In other words, it means staying true to who and what Clemson is.

The future is here, and Clemson wants to be well-positioned not only to survive but also to thrive.