COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Texas A&M Athletic Director Trev Alberts believes the recent House vs. NCAA settlement creates a unique opportunity for the university to leverage its strengths in the new era of college athletics.
"This is our chance to leverage the collective strength of Texas A&M, the Association of Former Students, everything that makes this place different. The scale of Texas A&M is our chief advantage. This is our time," Alberts said.
The settlement, reached on June 6, allows schools to begin paying their athletes directly through revenue sharing programs.
For Texas A&M, this means a significant increase from 255 scholarships across athletics to 410, enabling the university to fund almost every roster position available. Additionally, the athletics department can now share up to $20 million per year with student-athletes in designated revenue-sharing programs.
In the first year, six sports will be included in the revenue-sharing model: football, baseball, men's and women's basketball, softball, and volleyball.
"We just tried to look at what sports are we driving revenue in. We need to maintain the current revenue and how do we accelerate and advance it. So, difficult decisions and those can be adjusted and altered in the future, but that's how we chose to start," Alberts said.
While discussing the changes, Alberts emphasized that academic achievement remains a priority, sharing information about each team's GPA alongside details about the new financial structure.
"You never stay the same in college athletics. You're either getting better or falling behind. I think at a place like Texas A&M, I think the most important thing to think through is how do you thread the needle between staying true to the traditions that make this place unique, and yet how do you modernize?" Alberts said.
As Texas A&M moves forward, the university aims to become an industry leader in revenue sharing and NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) opportunities to help bring championships to College Station.
"The quicker we can adjust and adapt; we don't have to love it. There's a lot of our key stakeholders including myself that some of this stuff I don't like but guess what, it is what it is. Let's go win, let's find a way to win, and that's what we're focused on," Alberts said.
While the House settlement answered many questions, several challenges remain to be addressed in the coming years, including how money will be allocated across teams, player-to-school contractual obligations, and impacts on the transfer portal.
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