IU cuts 25 positions in layoffs as it prepares for NCAA revenue sharing

On By Littum

BLOOMINGTON — IU Athletics endured a round of layoffs this week aimed at cutting costs as it prepares to share revenue with athletes at the start of the 2025-26 academic year, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation.

The department eliminated 25 positions — 12 were unfilled vacancies — as it looks to cut 10% of the budget from each of its aides (compliance, academic services, communications, etc.) and programs.

According to multiple sources, associate director of athletics and senior women’s administrator Mattie White was among the dismissed employees.

White spent 19 years in the department, working her way up through academic and student services to a senior administrative role during Fred Glass’ tenure. She was elevated to her current position as one of athletic director Scott Dolson’s deputies in 2020 when Dolson was promoted to AD replacing Glass.

According to a source familiar with the layoffs, the athletic department does not plan to cut any sports. In addition, there were no cuts to any of the various teams’ coaching staffs or personnel, and the department is not asking employees to go without pay.

How House vs. NCAA will affect Indiana athletics

A department-wide email detailing the staff reductions was sent out Thursday, citing the costs associated with the NCAA’s new revenue-sharing model.

As part of House vs. NCAA settlement, the nation’s top conferences agreed to pay nearly $2.8 billion directly to players. The new revenue sharing model allows schools to give up to 22% of the average power league school’s annual revenue to athletes.

The initial cap for 2025-26 will be about $20.5 million per year. school and will increase as revenues increase throughout the 10-year agreement. The proposal was given preliminary approval by a federal judge in October.

There is a final hearing scheduled for April, but Indiana has already signed athletes to revenue-sharing agreements in anticipation of a July 1 start date. The department expects to have to reinvest some of the savings from the cuts in positions aimed at managing the new revenue-sharing program, which will require employees to have knowledge of contracts and analytics.

School administrators have worked for months to carve out space in a budget reported in the department’s fiscal year 2023 that includes more than $144.7 million in operating revenue.

The Herald-Times and IndyStar understand that Dolson has worked aggressively both internally and externally to streamline costs while opening new revenue streams. Indiana’s move to third-party vendors Legends (apparel) and Levy (hospitality and concessions) were both designed to improve the department’s overall financial position.

A burgeoning growth area that athletic departments from across the country are adopting is a contribution per seat equivalent to the personal seat licenses used by professional teams. Kansas introduces this model for its men’s basketball team for the 2025-26 season.

The hope of the department is that these additional revenue streams will eliminate the need for additional staff reductions as the revenue sharing cap increases in the coming years.

Increased revenue from Indiana’s remarkable football season in 2024 will also help in that effort.

The Hoosiers saw a $4 million increase in ticket sales and more than a 100% increase in concession revenue, thanks to a season that included eight home games and a division-record four Memorial Stadium sellouts. Even with the number of home games reduced to seven in 2025, the department can likely expect a bump in revenue in the form of stronger season ticket sales as well as robust game-day revenue as long as the Hoosiers remain competitive.

Plus, all Big Ten member schools will receive additional funding from the conference thanks to four teams reaching this year’s CFP.

The conference receives $4 million for each qualifier, $4 million for each team that reached the quarterfinals, and an additional $6 million for each team that reached the semifinals and finals. With that math, the Big Ten stands to receive the largest share of Playoff revenue per conference this year, $46 million in total distributions.

These funds are added to the Big Ten’s bowl pool and divided among league members.

Indiana athletics had several rounds of cuts in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic

Indiana athletics underwent a round of layoffs in 2021 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the athletics department faced a nearly $25 million deficit and a smaller round of layoffs the following year.

During the pandemic, conference distributions, media rights payments, contributions and ticket revenue all took significant hits. Ticket sales plummeted to just $59,257 after surpassing $36 million in fiscal years 2019 and 2020.

The department implemented various cost-cutting measures that included at least two weeks of leave for every department employee and the elimination of 32 full-time positions, resulting in $2 million in annual savings.

“In all the eliminations of budget-saving positions, none of them have been student-facing or really impacted our students,” Dolson said at the time. “That was one of our big intentions in cutting, we didn’t want our student-athletes to feel that.”

Those cuts could have been larger if not for a gift from the IU Foundation. Subtracting a loan it will repay itself, the foundation gave $150 million to the university to fill COVID shortfalls for various university assistants, and $38 million of that went to the athletic department. The only qualification for the gift was that it be used to cover expenses and not be saved or reinvested.

“It allowed us to stay afloat,” Dolson said at the time.

Indiana’s athletic department has yet to release its annual NCAA-required financial report for fiscal year 2024, but records from FY23 showed that the department’s finances have stabilized. The department reported an operating profit of $5.6 million — something Dolson described as a “real feat” — on $144.7 million in revenue and $139 million in expenses.

The difference now, for IU as well as all of its Division I peers, is that the spending hole created by revenue sharing will be permanent.

COVID was a systemic shock to college athletics, but also a singular event mitigated by time. Revenue sharing, on the other hand, will remain standard practice indefinitely, meaning Indiana’s cost-cutting measures should be more permanent this time around.

A second round of layoffs in the past five years reflects the sometimes dramatic impact of the changing flow of money through college athletics. After nearly two decades of ever-increasing revenues — largely thanks to large television and media rights contracts — new challenges are changing the sport’s economic model, likely forever.

Michael Niziolek is an Indiana reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read his full coverage by clicking here.