When Judge Claudia Wilken finally approved the NCAA House Settlement, it set off a domino effect of changes in College Athletics. No change is more impactful or has been talked about more than the arrival of revenue sharing in College sports. Each individual college can pay its athletes directly now which should start to slow the impact collectives are having on recruiting and the transfer portal.
As revenue sharing arrives in College Football, the programs will start to see their margins diminished as they now have to share a portion of the revenue with their athletes. When the programs saw their revenue losses, there was always going to be more deals made by the Conferences to make up for what they lost out on.
The Big 12 and Big 10 announce massive partnership with PayPal
On Thursday Morning, the Big 12 and Big 10 announced a massive partnership with PayPal to make payments to their student athletes under the Revenue Sharing model.
🚨College commerce announcement
— PayPal (@PayPal) June 26, 2025
The @bigten & @Big12Conference are partnering with PayPal to make payments to student-athletes in a new revenue-sharing model. These partnerships go beyond payments — they’re about empowering the next generation of students and athletes to use… pic.twitter.com/oas8VFf41v
The partnership sets up a platform through which the Colleges will pay their athletes with PayPal paying the price to be that partner. PayPal owns Venmo which is already a massive part of the every day life of College athletes which helps modernize how the schools will be paying the players. The payment method also adds a layer of oversight as the platforms are already heavily monitored by the IRS.
Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark had the following to say about the partnership in PayPal's press release:
"We are thrilled to enter into this landmark partnership with PayPal and Venmo, as we embark on a new era of college athletics, aligning with a global leader like PayPal will unlock a wealth of opportunities for the Big 12. This partnership will also empower our student-athletes to receive payments through a secure, trusted platform they already know and use."Brett Yormark
The Commissioner of the Big 10 Tony Petitti said the following in the press release about the deal:
"We look forward to partnering with PayPal to ensure a secure, rapid and reliable way for student-athletes to receive institutional payments as we welcome in this new era in college athletics."Tony Petitti
PayPal will also make several steps to further steps to solidify its standing on College Campuses. On select college campuses, students will be able to start making their tuition payments through PayPal's platforms. The first roll out of PayPal's initiatives is expected to begin as soon as this Summer.
Venmo will become the sponsor of the first Big 10 Rivalry Series which will take place across Football and both Men's and Women's Basketball.
The partnership by the Big 12 and the Big 10 is a landmark agreement that we'll start to see across the College landscape. Every conference and program will look to find additional revenue sources as they look to make up for the money they won't make due to revenue sharing. The SEC will be the next conference to watch as they'll have massive power to negotiate several deals.