Recent NCAA Settlement Case Having Big Impact on Mocs Athletics

Chattanooga-(WDEF-TV) The recent NCAA settlement case that will lead to colleges paying athletes, doesn’t just impact the big schools.
It will also affect universities like UTC.
Mocs athletic director Mark Wharton is still trying to come to grips with what it means for Chattanooga.

There’s nothing like a new expense on the athletic books at a school like UTC…. for over a quarter of a million-dollars
Said Wharton:”The settlement of $2.8 billion and the impact on the Southern Conference is about $270,000 a school for the next ten years that we have to pay into settlement pool. The NCAA gives us a distribution based on your scholarship sports you sponsor and academics. Usually for us it’s around $800,000. So the NCAA now through the distribution will lessen it $270,000.”
Besides the 270-grand, will Chattanooga have to pay athletes too?
Said Wharton:”We’re trying to figure out what it means for FCS level. 22-percent of gross revenues that departments earn could be shared with student athletes. Is that a mandate? Or is it up to 22-percent?”
Navigating the new world of college athletics won’t be easy, since you obviously want to stay competitive.
Like what the Mocs basketball team did to start last season.
Said Wharton:”Last year going up to Louisville and beating Louisville. They want to continue to do that, but the playing field is not level anymore. I don’t know what it’s going to look like in five to ten years. Hoping there’s some stability. As much as I hate saying it some federal intervention to be able to regulate some of it.”
The Mocs football team has a money game with Tennessee this fall.
But Wharton isn’t sure if future matchups with SEC teams are in the cards.
Said Wharton:”Ever since the situation with Texas and Oklahoma going to the SEC whenever they announced that three years ago, all the SEC stopped scheduling. We are calling and waiting and certainly trying to work with other leagues.”
Getting an SEC basketball team to play in Chattanooga is always a money boost, but that’s not happening either.
Said Wharton:”Said when I first got the job that every three years, I would try to get a Tennessee or Alabama here and schedule a 3-for-1. We would go to them three times, and they would come to us. They won’t do it. They want the one game at their place. Have to pay $90,000 for it and move on.”>