These days, Syracuse Orange sports fans are always curious about what kind of financial budgets the teams have for their rosters, particularly in football and men's/women's basketball.
Amid preseason camp getting underway last week for SU football, head coach Fran Brown has held a couple of media availability sessions with reporters. In one of them, he was asked about the program's roster budget, and how it compares to the rest of his peers in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Regarding Syracuse's budget, Brown declined to provide specifics ("I ain't telling you that"), although he did say that he's "comfortable with what we have." He cited the importance of One Orange Alliance, which this past spring evolved from SU Football NIL into this new entity that serves as a third-party marketing agency supporting all 20 varsity sports at the 'Cuse as it relates to name, image and likeness ("NIL") deals.
Last fall, Orange United, a commercial NIL collective that launched in September 2023 to support all SU sports in the NIL space, as Inside the Loud House first reported, closed its doors. That development meant there was no longer a third-party organization in place to facilitate NIL agreements for athletes with all Syracuse Orange sports teams.
For months, the chatter was that SU Football NIL might expand beyond its primary focus of football, and that finally happened in the spring. Syracuse Athletics is sharing the maximum amount allowed under last summer's House antitrust settlement with its players in terms of rev-share, but third-party NIL opportunities are vastly critical to supplement what schools directly pay their athletes.
Fran Brown gave a hilarious answer when asked about Syracuse football's budget as compared to others in the ACC.
Brown says that he's thankful for One Orange Alliance and its president, Colby Clark, who is the CEO of Feldmeier Equipment in Syracuse. I sent a text message to Clark last week and am hoping to catch up with him soon.
Additionally, Brown cited the leadership of new SU chancellor Mike Haynie and new 'Cuse athletics director Bryan Blair, both of whom have stressed the importance of financial considerations to keep Syracuse sports competitive in the ACC and around the country.
On July 1, Blair officially took over as athletics director from the retiring John Wildhack. In a letter that day to the greater Syracuse community, Blair wrote in part, "While we will seek to be competitive in all 20 sports, a special focus will be given to Football and Basketball as critical revenue, community engagement and brand drivers for our institution."
Regarding One Orange Alliance, Blair said, "College athletics is more fluid than ever before and having a supportive third party that can help find and facilitate NIL opportunities for our young people is more valuable than ever before."
Last week, when Brown was asked how Syracuse football's budget compares to the rest of the ACC, he said in part, "I wouldn't ask my wife who she thinks is the cutest coach around ... there are certain things that you're better off just not knowing. ... I was told not to count another man's pocket."
Too, too good, Coach.
In speaking with sources about this topic in recent months, the consensus I'm getting is that Syracuse football is in a relatively solid position as it pertains to financial components - that is, rev-share and third-party NIL.
I don't have further specifics, but one thing I can say with confidence: If the Orange can rebound from a lackluster 2025 and win a lot of games this coming season, that should only help bolster the team's roster budget moving forward.
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