Syracuse football looks to raise $6 million to $8 million in name, image and likeness funds for the 2025 season, beyond what players will be able to get paid in future revenue-sharing, according to head coach Fran Brown.
Brown, per a report by Chris Carlson of Syracuse.com and others, made some comments on NIL and revenue-sharing at an event earlier this week where a new partnership was announced between Syracuse football and Community Bank N.A., which is a subsidiary of DeWitt, N.Y.-based financial services company Community Financial System Inc.
There are a couple of things in play with regard to college football players earning endorsement income from their NIL, and obviously we're talking about the 'Cuse here. Number one, assuming a federal judge gives approval of a proposed settlement of federal antitrust lawsuits filed by Division I student-athletes against the NCAA and power conferences, schools for the first time ever would be allowed to directly pay student-athletes for the use of their NIL.
In the 2025-26 season, the cap for power-conference schools is around $20.5 million, and SU Athletics has said that it plans to distribute this maximum amount. Syracuse Orange athletics director John Wildhack has said these dollars will be weighted toward football and men's/women's basketball, although some money could go to Olympic sports, too.
Secondly, not too long ago, SU Athletics announced a three-year, $50 million fund-raising campaign that "will focus on attracting and retaining champion-caliber student-athletes." This $50 million campaign, I imagine, will help with SU Athletics' future revenue-sharing efforts.
Finally, beyond future revenue-sharing, student-athletes will continue to have the ability to earn NIL money via third-party collectives, and Wildhack recently said that this NIL avenue remains "very, very important" to supplement revenue-sharing and help the 'Cuse compete with other Atlantic Coast Conference schools and programs nationwide as it pertains to player retention and recruiting both out of the transfer portal and at the high school level.
Syracuse football head coach Fran Brown dishes on NIL and future revenue-sharing.
Regarding where Syracuse football resides in the ACC related to NIL, Brown said in part at the event earlier this week, "There’s 17 teams? ... We’re probably, I’d say, about nine. Probably so. Middle-of-the-pack. Toward the back end of it. But, realistically, we’re probably around nine."
Currently, there are three third-party NIL organizations supporting Syracuse Orange student-athletes, and they are Orange United, SU Football NIL and Athletes Who Care.
Wildhack recently said that, effective July 1, he will streamline these third-party NIL entities. What that means isn't entirely clear to me, although Wildhack did say that SU Football NIL will continue to exist and could expand beyond football and reach into basketball as well.
According to Carlson's article, Brown added: "SU Football NIL is going to help us be able to compete. There will be people with a larger amount of money but by us doing this, we’re looking to raise $6 to $8 million, to go along with the revenue share. With that, and the way we recruit and the way that we play, we’ll be able to compete with anybody in the country."