MTSU athletic director Chris Massaro talks about NCAA and player pay
MTSU athletic director Chris Massaro on NCAA changes and player pay
Middle Tennessee State athletic director Chris Massaro discusses how changes in the NCAA will impact Blue Raiders athletics.
Middle Tennessee State athletic director Chris Massaro said he is more optimistic than ever about the future of Blue Raider sports.
This comes in the wake of recent developments at the NCAA that would allow schools to pay athletes and also create a compensation fund that could compensate former players going back to 2016.
The NCAA, power conferences and attorneys for plaintiffs in three antitrust cases involving college athlete compensation recently agreed to settlement proposals.
The proposed agreement, which must be approved by a federal judge, would include a nearly $2.8 billion compensation fund for current and former athletes and fundamentally change the way current and future athletes are paid to play their sports.
What impact does this have on MTSU and the other Group of Five schools?
Cecil Joyce of the Daily News Journal caught up with Massaro to get his thoughts on the changing landscape of college sports and how it affects the Blue Raiders.
MTSU AD Chris Massaro is a proponent of revenue sharing for all athletes
Given the amount of money universities spend on sports, Massaro understands why it’s important to compensate players – not just the best male players in the biggest sports, but everyone.
While the specific pay of players like those at power conference schools does not affect MTSU, the 2021 NCAA vs. Alston ruling has already prepared Massaro and his department to find the funds for in-kind compensation (up to nearly $6,000 per player per year).
“When we moved to weekday football games (on television), that was about a $200,000 increase for each school (in Conference USA),” Massaro said. “I took about half of that increase and allocated it to Alston. Every student-athlete here gets at least $1,000 in Alston money, and most of that comes from the increase in television subsidies. We’ve attached academic requirements to it… you have to have this or that to qualify.
“It’s for all of our student-athletes. Our scholarships include grants, room, board, tuition and things that have nothing to do with Alston. Now we’re giving them a little bit of Alston. We just have to be careful how we spend. We’ll inherit expenses as the problems arise. We have to adjust our budgets and our mindset.”
He said equal compensation for athletes is a high priority at MTSU.
“(Title IX) is a big part of the equation here at MTSU,” Massaro said. “We have very strong women’s programs, especially basketball. That’s a growth sport. We want to do more with it as an institution and an athletic department than we have done. That’s something we have to keep an eye on.”
In the 2022-23 fiscal year, MTSU reported athletic department operating expenses of $41 million.
What concerns does Chris Massaro have about the upcoming changes?
The NCAA has stated that 41% of the $2.8 billion will come from generating new revenue, finding cost savings and the NCAA’s use of existing reserve funds.
One point that concerns Massaro is the percentage breakdown of the cuts in distributions the NCAA makes to each conference to make up the remaining 59%.
Of that, 24% of the $2.8 billion comes from cuts for power conference members, 10% from the Group of Five, 13% from FCS members and 12% from non-football members.
“I didn’t think it was fair who was paying,” Massaro said. “Basically, the rest of us are funding some of the Power Five athletes for the last decade. That’s up to the plaintiffs, but it’s interesting to see their formulas.”
“Our runs in the NCAA basketball tournament and our extra shares are going to be cut. Starting next summer, we’re not going to get as much NCAA distribution to pay for that. Everyone is going to have to pay for that with reduced revenue from the NCAA for the next decade.”
What MTSU AD Chris Massaro thinks about a “positive” future
Massaro said he did not believe the new rule would have an impact on recruitment at the Group of Five level.
He also does not believe that there will be a greater separation between the Power Conferences and the Group of Five Conferences than there is now, but believes that the separation within the Power Conferences could be compromised when taking into account the distribution of resources between universities.
MORE: Former MTSU football stars on the 2025 College Football Hall of Fame ballot
Massaro said the biggest benefit of the agreements is clearer understanding and direction for all schools.
“We have a path, a direction,” Massaro said. “We’re not just a rudderless ship out there, just going with the flow, as I’ve seen time and time again over the last four or five years. I think there’s a direction we can go, and that’s positive.”
“The positives for MTSU are our location, our economics and our resources. What we’ve accomplished and those things, and where we’ve positioned ourselves. We’re in good shape. I’m not afraid of our future. It’s just going to look a little different. I think MTSU’s future is going to be great.”
Cecil Joyce covers high school sports and MTSU athletics for The Daily News Journal. Reach him at [email protected] and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @Cecil_Joyce.
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