Missouri Tiger Athletic Director Laird Veatch met with the media on Thursday to discuss the Tigers’ plans going forward after the passing of the House settlement.
Here’s a few of the quotes I found most telling and what I think went unsaid in them.
When asked about how the money will be spent
What Veatch said: “I would just say that the bulk of our revenue share funds will go to football and men’s basketball, similar to the conversation that you’re seeing across the country, in large part in line with how moneys are generated, but also the brand value that those student-athletes bring to Mizzou. There will be other sports that receive revenue share, not all sports will, but there will be opportunities for student-athletes across our sports to receive those funds also.”
What went unsaid: As expected, the Tigers will go essentially the same route as most major-conference teams. Football and men’s basketball are the money makers, so that’s where the money will be spent. You have to drive revenue to keep up.
When asked which sports will receive money and whether that can change year to year
What Veatch said: “First of all, to answer that question, they can change year to year and I’m sure there will be a lot that we learn just like everyone else does as we enter into this for the first time. I don’t feel like we’re in a position to share sports or share specific details and amounts. And the reason for that, candidly, is because until we’re at a point where, you know, this process allows for that kind of transparency across the board with all sports, I just candidly don’t see a competitive value or reason, a strategic incentive for us to disclose those specifics. I do think that will likely happen in time across the board, but until that time, I just don’t think it’s in the best interest of Mizzou.”
What Veatch said when asked to expand: “It’s just a strategic decision that we’ve made at this point and likely as that comes out in the future, across the board, we may change that position. But at this point, we feel like providing the insight we have is far enough.”
What went unsaid: This part I find very interesting. A number of schools have laid out exactly how much is going where. I agree there isn’t a competitive advantage to be had by saying exactly where each dollar is going, but I also don't see the advantage gained by not talking about it when other schools in the SEC are announcing plans for the full amounts, I’m surprised by the hesitance to talk about it.
We can assume women’s basketball will receive part of it because of the talk from new head coach Kellie Harper and her staff about the growing investment in the team and we know that $2.5 million of the $20.5 million goes directly to increased scholarships, which will largely be used in women’s sports.
But exactly how the rest of that $18 million will break down for the Tigers was left in the dark.
When asked about this settlement driving stability in college sports
What Veatch said: “We are finally getting back to where we have real structure and real oversight. We are getting to a point where, as with revenue share, those dollars are going to be reported to a cap system, a national system, as you know and have read about, we’re going to get to a point where NIL deals do go through this NIL Go clearing house and there’ll be standards that have to be met. So, you know, from that standpoint, I think it’s good and healthy for everyone to get to a type of environment where we’re all playing by the same rules and having some consistency there. And I do think it gives us an opportunity to begin to stabilize college athletics. But it’s, it’s a step, right? And it’s not going to be perfect, I think we all have to recognize that there is going to be challenges as we work through this together and learn it together and there’s also going to be continued challenges to the system and process that we’re going to have to work through.”
What went unsaid: It’s good to go in recognizing there will be challenges and changes to come. The Tigers have capitalized the past handful of years because they have been good at adjusting to the shifting landscape around them. But if you’re going in knowing there are going to be major challenges and more changes to come, does that really count as stability?
I like the idea of more regulation in this sphere, things were getting completely out of hand, but like Veatch said, this is one step on the way toward stability. This isn’t stability in and of itself.
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