USF’s Board of Trustees unanimously approved two multimillion-dollar expenditures for the 2026–27 fiscal year on Monday. ORACLE PHOTO / WILL RAINSBERGER

USF’s Board of Trustees unanimously approved two spending increases for USF Athletics on Monday — another step in the university’s aggressive approach to college sports’ rapidly changing financial landscape.

The BOT approved an internal loan of up to $22.5 million and a $16 million increase in student-athlete revenue sharing payments for the 2026–27 fiscal year. 

USF Athletics CEO Rob Higgins said these expenditures will help the university tackle “current challenges” in athletics – including revenue sharing, conference realignment uncertainty and new name, image and likeness rules. 

“This isn’t an industry that’s changing by the day. It’s changing by the hour,” Higgins said. “I can promise you we are positioned really well for this, but it takes investment.” 

The internal loan will be funded through investment gains and will not use student fees, according to BOT documents. 

Related: Kelly says USF will be an ‘aggressive’ House v. NCAA settlement adopter

The House v. NCAA settlement — which was finalized on June 6 — allows universities to directly fund student athletes, with an annual limit of $20.5 million per university. 

Before the settlement, student athletes could only earn revenue from third-party sources, such as brand deals with businesses. 

The Fowler Avenue Collective — USF’s NIL collective — is an independent organization that supports USF student athletes through NIL initiatives. 

The initial $4.5 million in revenue sharing was allocated by BOT Vice Chair Mike Griffin just a few months before USF’s athletic programs began play. 

However, Monday’s approval allowed USF to reach the national cap, raising its approved revenue-sharing distributions to $20.5 million in the next fiscal year.

As part of the American Conference’s revenue-sharing model, USF is required to share at least $10 million in total revenue with athletes by 2028, according to the Sports Business Journal. 

Related: USF approves $407 million price tag for stadium, related infrastructure

The Florida Board of Governors previously approved USF to use $31 million from the Capital Improvement Trust Fund in 2023 — a tuition fee collected at all Florida public universities — to partially fund the university’s on-campus stadium project.

Still, the stadium will be primarily funded through a $200 million loan issued by the USF Financing Corporation in 2023.

BOT Chair Will Weatherford said the college sports landscape has “certainly changed” since he was first elected as board chair in 2021. 

USF has overhauled its Athletics department ever since the departure of vice president of athletics Michael Kelly in June. 

In August, Weatherford announced USF would create a new position – an Athletics CEO – to accommodate college athletics’ move towards a “business model.” 

It also hired NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Derrick Brooks as its chief operating officer on Oct. 30 and Jason Layton as its chief business officer on Nov. 13.

“We want a standard of excellence in everything we do academically, everything we do in research and everything we do athletically,” Weatherford said. “Athletics is our brand. It’s the front door of our university.”