STILLWATER –Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark and Big Ten chief Tony Petitti have worked a multi-year deal with global payment company PayPal for their schools in their conferences to use PayPal as the distributor to their student-athletes through the revenue share outlined in the settlement of the House vs. NCAA lawsuit. Schools, starting July 1, pay athletes directly with the limit initially being $20.5 million per school year for all sports combined.
The new agreement will allow Big Ten and Big 12 athletic departments to dispense these payments using PayPal exclusively. PayPal and Venmo will put money back into the Big 12 and the Big Ten.
PayPal said the initial rollout is expected to begin this summer. The House settlement takes effect on July 1.
Students will get paid quickly and securely and can even use their PayPal accounts to pay their bills including any tuition or school accounts. PayPal will become the preferred payment partner at schools.
Robert Allen - Pokes Report
PayPal and Venmo will be part of all the action at Big 12 sports venues, including Boone Pickens Stadium, and for concerts too.
As part of the deal, PayPal is also introducing conference-branded debit cards available with each school’s logo.
The Big 12 Conference includes 16 schools: Oklahoma State, TCU, Baylor, Kansas State, Kansas, Cincinnati, West Virginia, Texas Tech, Utah, BYU, Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State, Iowa State, UCF and Houston.
“It is a great day for student-athletes, and I’m sure other conferences are going to embrace this opportunity,” Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark said on CNBC Thursday morning. “I was told last night, the ACC is up next, so you’re going to see this program roll out across campuses throughout the country.”
“We’re proud to help lead this transformation in college athletics by making it easier and faster
for student-athletes to get paid and continue to bring trusted and innovative commerce solutions to the heart of campus life,” PayPal President and CEO Alex Chriss said in a statement.
With regard to Oklahoma State, OSU has a relationship with Paycom and Chad Richison with their wrestling program. It is not known if that could conflict at all with this Big 12 deal.
Venmo, the social media payment platform is part of PayPal. With the Big 12, Venmo will serve as the official partner of the Big 12 Conference across Big 12 football, basketball, and Olympic sports championships for both men and women. Venmo will also be seen across all 16 institutions' athletic events.
It’s a lot like the commercials with Jennifer Garner or Samuel L. Jackson saying, “What’s in your wallet?” You get money back on purchases with Capitol One cards. I just gassed up this morning and used my Upside app. You should try it and put me down as a reference. I get about a nickel back off every gallon of gas purchased.
