Miami’s Dan Radakovich calls for rev-share cap to be lifted, says current model ‘difficult to enforce’

Just over six months into the revenue-sharing era, some around college athletics are calling for changes to the cap in place, Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellenger reported. Miami athletics director Dan Radakovich is among those voices.

Radakovich told Dellenger he would be in favor of lifting the $20.5 million cap implemented under the House settlement. The landmark agreement, which received final approval in June, paved the way for schools to directly pay athletes. The cap will increase incrementally each year.

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However, Radkovich expressed concern about enforcing such a cap. He also argued investment would increase as a result.

“The idea of capping compensation has never worked in this industry,” Radakovich told Yahoo! Sports. “The model we have right now is really difficult to enforce. People who feel like they want to invest should have the ability to invest.”

The $20.5 million cap was calculated as 22% of the average power conference school revenue for the previous year, and the expectation is it will rise 4% each year as part of the settlement agreement. But the CSC recently announced changes to its rev-share guidance with regard to scholarship counting.

Now, schools can use an additional $2.5 million for rev-share, which was previously set aside just for scholarships. However, they will incur a 20% fine for however much is used.

However, Dan Radakovich argued removing the cap would allow the market to settle. From there, it would bring more “fairness” to the landscape.

“Over time, if we have this kind of open system, economics will bring things back to a more normal circumstance,” Radakovich said. “This model would allow this to be fair to those who want to invest and allow the market to settle. It will settle over time. It always has.”

The cap only applies to revenue-sharing. There is no cap on third-party NIL deals, although those are subject to the NIL Go clearinghouse, operated by Deloitte and the College Sports Commission. More than $127 million worth of deals have been cleared as of Dec. 31, the CSC announced.

Additionally, roughly a week after the football transfer portal window opened, the CSC issued a reminder to schools about third-party NIL deals. The commission also expressed “serious concern” about some terms of the deals in question and confirmed investigations are progressing. Schools are also expected to hear from the CSC “soon,” the organization said.