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Drexel is ditching NIL collectives to move toward a revenue-sharing model for athletes. Here’s why.

Already behind from a collective standpoint, the school is looking to secure NIL compensation for its student-athletes through existing relationships with corporate sponsors.

Kobe MaGee of Drexel scores on a reverse layup  against  Niels Lane of Delaware on Jan. 25.
Kobe MaGee of Drexel scores on a reverse layup against Niels Lane of Delaware on Jan. 25. Read moreCharles Fox / Staff Photographer

The ever-changing college athletics landscape is preparing to evolve yet again because of the impending House v. NCAA settlement.

Expected for a final approval hearing on April 7, the settlement will usher in a new era of student-athlete compensation. If approved, the settlement will pay about $2.78 billion over 10 years to more than 10,000 current and former students who played Division I sports in 2016 or later. Each university also will share about $20 million a year with its athletes, which could begin in the 2025-26 academic year.

However, the settlement would implement roster size limits in tandem with the removal of caps on scholarships, among other changes.

Once the settlement is finalized, schools have the opportunity to opt in to the revenue-sharing model. Some schools, like Virginia Commonwealth, which competes in the Atlantic 10, have announced their intentions to opt in to keep up with the power conferences.

Drexel also plans to impose a revenue-sharing model, the university confirmed to The Inquirer. Name, image, and likeness rules have impacted the ability of mid-major programs to retain players. However, the changes are expected to have a substantial and positive impact on Drexel’s athletic programs.

A shift in strategy

Since NIL became official in 2021 Drexel has been behind in its offerings. Every university relied on the use of third-party collectives, which are independent funds that finance NIL deals for athletes.

For schools with large amounts of engaged and wealthy boosters, NIL collectives were an incredible resource for athletic programs to improve their ability to recruit and retain talent at their schools.

» READ MORE: In the new money era of college sports, what’s the plan for St. Joseph’s, La Salle, and Drexel?

Drexel’s Dragon Fire Collective, launched in December 2023, was working to actively meet the demands and rigors of the NIL landscape and attract top talent. However, it is believed that the program’s resources rank in the lower half of the Coastal Athletic Association, a position confirmed by Greg Cusick, Drexel’s senior associate athletics director.

According to Maisha Kelly, Drexel’s athletic director, the third-party NIL collective model is one that Drexel cannot take advantage of.

» READ MORE: In the case of the landmark House v. NCAA settlement, count the Ivy League out

“The third-party collective was an avenue if you had individuals from a private standpoint who wanted to commit dollars to go directly to student-athletes, and, candidly, we just didn’t have a robust base in that regard,” Kelly said. “Also, I felt strongly about not wanting to cannibalize the very needed fundraising that we need to do on the operations side where we need dollars annually for operating and for capital projects.”

While their collective was not lucrative, it was a necessary instrument, as it secured compensation for student-athletes.

Now, Drexel has the ability to secure NIL compensation for athletes through its relationships with corporate sponsors. The athletics program plans to move away from the Dragon Fire Collective in favor of utilizing the services of Compass, the NIL arm of Learfield, which is Drexel Athletics’ multimedia partner. Compass focuses on securing NIL deals with corporate sponsors rather than private donors.

This transition away from a collective is something that Kelly says is a more viable model.

“For us, the corporate route is more sustainable,” Kelly said. “It’s an avenue that, with our relationships, we can better leverage and sustain more so over time and identify some highly committed and resourced individuals who may be able to also help us in that space. Third-party collectives will probably start to go away because the financial structure around them is not necessarily as much of a cost-benefit to institutions anymore now that you could do some things internally.”

Cusick also spoke to the anticipated improvements in Drexel’s ability to disburse compensation to its athletes.

“Leaning into Compass and Learfield, we’ve seen some opportunities for corporate growth where we already have one or two of our corporate partners currently that are in agreements with NIL contracts with student-athletes, which I think is a good synergy and something that will become more common,” Cusick said. “I anticipate that to grow with more of a transition and lean towards that starting soon and really probably diving in next year.”

Another change that is coming to the NCAA is an increase in a school’s ability to give student-athletes educational awards and benefits. Sometimes called Alston Awards, these payments of up to $5,980 a year are an integral aspect of athlete compensation.

» READ MORE: Penn State center Nick Dawkins already built his legacy while waiting his time to take the field

Athletes who hit certain academic achievements, such as meeting a GPA requirement, are eligible to receive these payments. With the House settlement, the limitations on these educational awards are being loosened, allowing more athletes to receive higher levels of compensation through avenues that do not involve their NIL rights.

Educational awards will be something that Drexel places emphasis on in its student-athlete compensation.

A final change that Kelly and Cusick anticipate is the elimination of scholarship caps. In sports like lacrosse, where Drexel’s men’s and women’s teams have 52 players and 32 players, respectively, the programs have been limited to just 12 full scholarships each. With the NCAA settlement, the programs will be able to field rosters of a maximum of 48 men and 38 women, and the university can then award as many of those players a full scholarship as they choose.

“This new model allows us to contemplate how we invest our scholarships and how we award scholarships in particular sports that we want to be perhaps more competitive in and know that the power of a scholarship at an institution like Drexel, a top-100 institution, where the return on the value of that proposition is very significant,” Kelly said. “We’ll look at sports and we’ll look at scholarship allocations and how we leverage that.”

What revenue-sharing will look like at Drexel

Power Five conferences that generate billions of dollars in revenue combined each year are looking forward to the opportunity to hand their athletes a $20 million slice of their profits, but that is not feasible for all universities.

“We are not looking to take our current [financial] model and just say, ‘OK, 20% of that we’re going to disburse to our student-athletes. We’re not situated in that way,” Kelly said.

While Drexel will opt in to revenue-sharing, there is no set amount of revenue that the athletic department is obligated to share with its student-athletes.

“I feel good and confident about the competitiveness that it will provide us as it relates to student-athletes making decisions about where their opportunity lies,” Kelly said. “Whether it’s to commit to us or stay with us.”

Cusick added: “I do think that the changes [will have] a positive impact on our NIL capability to be quite honest. I anticipate pretty significant growth into next season and more opportunities for our student-athletes. … As our program continues to develop and grow, I think for us and for a lot of mid-majors, the new implementation will hopefully lead to higher retention rates of the roster.”

If there is any certainty in college athletics, it is that the NCAA’s rules will continue to change. While the financial structure of the industry is constantly in flux, the competitive spirit that lies at the heart of college sports still remains strong.

No matter how student-athletes get compensated, Kelly says that the main goal at Drexel is to win.

“We want to cut down nets,” Kelly said. “We want to celebrate championships and we’re going to do everything to continue to position our programs to have those resources to do so.”