In the 2026-27 sports season, Syracuse will pay its athletes the maximum amount permitted as part of the multi-billion-dollar House antitrust settlement that was approved last summer and ushered in a new era of college sports.
The House settlement, among other things, allowed schools for the first time to directly pay their athletes in the form of revenue-sharing. In 2025-26, the cap was set at $20.5 million, and the Orange shared this maximum amount with its players.
In 2026-27, the cap is approximately $21.3 million, and incoming SU athletics director Bryan Blair told Chris Carlson of Syracuse.com in a recent interview that Syracuse will pay its athletes that full $21.3 million, which is encouraging to hear.
SU Athletics has not broken down how much of that money goes to individual sports on the Hill. The majority of the funds will keep going to the sports that generate the most revenue at Syracuse and other schools around the country - football and men's basketball.
Financial compensation is a hot-button topic among Syracuse Orange fans these days.
It's a new world in collegiate athletics. Rev-share began in 2025-26. The transfer portal has exploded in recent years. Third-party name, image and likeness ("NIL") deals remain in place, and they're extremely important to supplement rev-share at Syracuse and other schools nationwide.
Blair was named the next athletics director at SU last month. He is known for his fundraising prowess, which is key for the 'Cuse. The men's basketball program also has a new head coach in Gerry McNamara.
Whether Syracuse (and others) will be able to sustain paying their athletes the maximum amount allowed under the House settlement season after season remains to be seen, but SU wants to stay competitive with foes in the Atlantic Coast Conference and across the country.
To that end, to assist with its rev-share efforts, in February of 2025, Syracuse Athletics announced a three-year, $50 million fundraising campaign known as Champion ’CUSE. More recently, this past week, another vital initiative was announced, as SU Football NIL has rebranded as One Orange Alliance and will serve as a third-party marketing agency supporting all 20 varsity sports at the 'Cuse.
Since Orange United closed up shop last fall, SU was lacking a third-party NIL entity to facilitate deals in sports beyond football. SU Football NIL had done some agreements in Syracuse sports besides football, but it wasn't comprehensive in nature.
Especially given that Syracuse basketball has a new head coach in McNamara, SU Athletics absolutely needed a third-party NIL organization in operation to support that team (and all 'Cuse sports).
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