Penn State AD Pat Kraft talks about how House vs. NCAA settlement will impact athletics
Pat Kraft proposed a change in how people talk about name, image and likeness — commonly referred to as NIL — when he spoke to the media Monday morning.
“So how about we change the narrative of NIL,” Kraft said. “It’s marketing. It’s marketing dollars. ... In this new system, you’re going to have to show fair market value. And this is where the power of Penn State is a huge asset. Because fair market value for the starting quarterback at Penn State is pretty good. And we’ve got to lean into that with our business partners.”
His description may be more accurate in the very near future, with the upcoming change to allow athletic departments to directly pay players through the House v. NCAA settlement that will lead to revenue sharing.
That will be a big change in college athletics, one that has been in the works for a while, which has allowed departments to prepare. And Penn State may be as ready as any athletic department for the change. Kraft has already said the department will fully invest the maximum allowable $20.5 million for revenue sharing, something he reiterated Monday. That will only help the Nittany Lions be as competitive as any other school in college sports.
But the trick will be determining just how that money, which will increase by 4% every year, gets allocated.
“I know the follow-up question is, ‘Well how are you spending that money,’” Kraft said. “Football, men’s and women’s basketball, wrestling obviously. Then you get into the space of women’s soccer, women’s volleyball. We’re trying to be able to manage the money so that if we need to move on someone, no matter what the sport is, we have the ability to. Hey if there’s the number one fencer in the world and we need to go use rev share to maybe tilt it our way, we’re gonna be able to do that.”
When revenue sharing becomes legal, it will drastically change college sports, but it also isn’t the only modification that will impact Penn State. Once all of the changes are effective — which is scheduled for July 1 — scholarship limits will also be eliminated. That will lead to some downsides, like rosters shrinking and potentially leading to the end of walk-ons in some programs, but will be a major benefit for plenty of Penn State’s programs.
“One of the biggest pieces to the House case is pulling the restriction of scholarships off,” Kraft said. “That’s huge. That allows us to offer scholarships to all of our athletes if we could afford it. ... We have the ability now to not only help our teams in the space of rev share but also put a lot more of our student-athletes, if we do it right and we raise the right amount of money, on scholarship. And that is a huge advantage for us.”
How the House settlement impacts Penn State wrestling
No program may benefit more from adding scholarships than Penn State wrestling.
Head coach Cael Sanderson has built one of the most dominant programs in the history of college athletics, and has done it under the scholarship limitations that come with Division I wrestling.
“Do know that the greatest wrestling program in the world has 9.9 scholarships as we sit here today,” Kraft said. “Let that sink in.”
That number — which is 0.1 lower than the 10 starters required for a full lineup — will be allowed to go up to 30, but it won’t at Penn State. That’s something Sanderson said to reporters at his weekly media availability last week, and Kraft reiterated Monday.
But that doesn’t mean he won’t see the benefits of the House settlement.
“I always tell Cael, we’re gonna do whatever we need to do, to give you all you need and the resources you need,” Kraft said. “I don’t envision any, I may be wrong in this, but any program doing 30 scholarships for wrestling. But we’re gonna give Cael what he needs. And I can tell you that we’ve added scholarships for him in the future.”
Any additional scholarships should only help Sanderson’s dynastic program build even more depth, and could create an even larger gap between the Nittany Lions and everyone else in the country.
It would make sense, then, that Sanderson keep requesting more for himself, too, but Kraft said that hasn’t been the case in his time working with the wrestling coach.
“If Cael walked in and wanted $100 million, I will find you $100 million, Cael,” Kraft said. “The reality is it’s the opposite to that. ... He’s never asked for anything more than what he believes it takes to just win.”
Quick hitters
- When asked about being all in on football and winning at the highest level, Kraft emphasized that he’s all in on winning in every sport Penn State competes in. “I’m here to win a national championship. We’re here to win national championships,” he said.
- Kraft said he doesn’t see College Football Playoff expansion as a bad thing, but emphasized the need to re-work the calendar to make sure everything can work with playoff expansion.
He also noted that he’s unsure of what spring football will look like next season for Penn State as the calendar continues to get re-worked.
Kraft mentioned the need to re-work the way the transfer portal works with an emphasis on the timing of it, in order to avoid situations like Beau Pribula’s when he entered the portal prior to the team’s playoff run to ensure he’d have a chance at a starting spot next season. “The Eagles did not have to deal with Saquon [Barkley] or someone going away on their run to winning the Super Bowl,” he said.
- The Blue-White game will go on as scheduled this spring, but Kraft is unsure of how the logistics will work out as of now because of the ongoing construction at Beaver Stadium, specifically with regard to the expansion of the concourse on the east side of Beaver Stadium. He added that Penn State will get that information out in advance.
This story was originally published February 24, 2025 at 4:45 PM.
