UMKC sees opportunity, not setback in landmark NCAA pay-for-play settlement

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - It’s one of the biggest developments in the history of college sports.

Athletes will no longer have to rely on NIL or name-image-likeness deals to get paid anymore.

Late Friday night, a judge approved a settlement allowing schools to pay student athletes directly.

The settlement establishes a 10-year revenue-sharing model. Schools can share up to $20.5 million of their revenues, with at least a four percent cap increase each year.

UMKC’s Director of Athletics, Brandon Martin, said the decision was inevitable, but now they are able to pick and choose how to respond to it.

Right now, he feels this decision will be a turning point for the university’s athletic future.

This news means they know they’ll have to pay students directly, which could cost them more, but Martin said ticket prices won’t go up to do it.

The University said they’re going to use this opportunity to recruit more student-athletes, keep their current student-athletes longer, and invest in them.

“This is an opportunity for us to I think just be who we are from an identity standpoint. We’re not going to be some of the P4 schools, we’re not going to have a lot of the same challenges as a place like KU or Mizzou, but this is an opportunity for us to invest in some of the sports we feel we can be most successful,” said Martin.

Martin said before this they were in limbo not knowing how or when the rules would change, now he said this allows them to invest in sports they feel can be most successful.

He said the settlement could help UMKC win championships and change the fan experience.

They’re going to be focusing on expanding their fanbase, athlete and competing at a high level with a smaller budget than power conference schools.

“One of the things that I’ve always wanted to do was to capture all of the talent locally and right now this gives us a chance, and what it represents and what its symbolic of is that we want to compete at the highest level and so by us opting in that’s a way to represent, symbolizing that you can come to UMKC and have a great experience here as a student athlete,” said Martin.

This will go into effect in July.

KCTV5 reached out to both KU and Mizzou, but they were not available for comment.

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