STORRS — Getting a fix on what college sports is all about, or will be all about, is like trying to take a snapshot of the scenery from the window of the Acela at full throttle. The landscape is a blur, the view changing with each blink.

UConn has a unique seat in the first-class car, trying to maintain its credible FBS football program without a conference affiliation, while trying to maintain its preeminence in the basketball-centric Big East, just to name the two highest profile challenges.

Now that schools can share up to $20.5 million of their revenue with student-athletes, and facilitate name-image-likeness income opportunities, UConn AD David Benedict feels the urgency to generate more money.

“We are more desperate, we come in every day with a desperation to continue to drive every and all aspects of revenue we possibly can,” Benedict said in a huddle with state reporters Tuesday as football practice was going on outside. “We know if we are successful in doing that, ultimately that’s going to lead to success for our coaches and student-athletes. So there is a desperation right now more than there probably has been at any other time, but there’s a confidence that, yeah, we’re going to stay competitive.”

What UConn AD David Benedict said about Dan Hurley’s thoughts of stepping down

It’s not likely that UConn will get to $20.5 million in the rev-share game, but Benedict has a new tool in the revenue-generating tool box: the UConn State Tax Credit Program, approved by the state legislature last session, taking effect July 1 and allowing the university to establish and administer its own tax credit incentive program. Donations directed to the “Storrs Strong Fund” between $5,000 and $1 million are eligible for a state tax credit equal to 50 percent of the donation. UConn hopes to raise as much as $10 million through the program.

“At the end of the day you have to match your investments with what your expectations are,” Benedict said. “You’ve got to find ways, you’ve got to be innovative, you’ve got to be creative. You’ve got to do a better job engaging people to become investors.”

The tax credit can be accessed with a donation to NIL funding made through UConn’s Marketplace, through a licensing/endorsement deal that complies with a university-provided agreement, or through a sponsorship agreement. The UConn Tax Credit has its own website.

UConn raised more than $51 million last fiscal year, a record intake. Benedict believes the athletic department budget ($105.6 million in 2024 with a university subsidy of $31.7 million) is greater than any school outside the four major conferences, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC. But teams in those conferences begin battle with football TV revenue that dwarfs UConn’s TV money from Big East basketball and its independent football deal with CBS Sports.

Despite a model some have called “unsustainable,” UConn won nine games, including a bowl game in football last season, its best outcome in more than 10 years; won the national championship in women’s basketball, back-to-back men’s basketball titles in 2023 and 24; and reached the NCAA quarterfinals in men’s hockey March. It has opened new arenas for hockey, volleyball, baseball and softball in recent years, and is forging ahead with plans to upgrade Gampel Pavilion, which will have 3,000 square feet of new space under reconfigured stands by the fall, and will address the long-troublesome roof after next season. Basketball coaches Dan Hurley and Geno Auriemma are among the highest paid in their sport.

While all of this has been sustained so far, the long term outlook has limited visibility. The SCORE Act (Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements) is the latest piece of legislation working its way through congress.

“Ultimately, we have to continue to attempt to get to a place, whether it’s through federal legislation, which some think is the only way to truly get there, to a place where every time we do something, we’re (not) constantly getting sued,” Benedict said. “No one can argue there has been tremendous movement as it relates to how we support student athletes, the resources and the support we’re providing.”

UConn and Notre Dame are the last remaining independent FBS football programs, which is like saying Mt. Southington and Mt. Everest are the last remaining mountains. ND’s deal with NBC is worth $50 million annually; UConn deal is believed to be worth about $100,000 per game.

Dom Amore: UConn’s Maya Moore, Sue Bird, speak on belonging, connection in Hall of Fame induction

At Notre Dame and most power conference schools, the decision to allocate most of its revenue to football is a no-brainer. In the Big East, St. John’s, where Rick Pitino was hired three years ago, has exponentially boosted revenue, and other than UConn, members have FCS football, or no football at all, so they can allocate most of what is raised to men’s basketball. At UConn, the balancing act is trickier. Obviously, making certain the basketball programs do not fall behind their conference and national rivals is the priority.

“When we were at Madison Square Garden (in 2018) and announced we were (leaving the AAC) and going back to the Big East,” Benedict said. “There was a small group of people immediately surrounded me and said, ‘this is the death of football.’ Well, I don’t think it was the death of football. Yes, we are in a unique position as an independent, even more so than when we made that announcement, because we had several independents, UMass being one of them.”

As it is, UConn has played five ACC teams in the last year, and won only the Fenway Bowl against North Carolina, the second bowl appearance in Jim Mora’s first three years as coach. But all the losses have been by one score, including last Saturday’s overtime loss at Syracuse.

“This isn’t all about money,” Benedict said. “Coaches matter. And with great coaches, great development, great investment, you can be extremely competitive without the biggest bidder or spender. Obviously, our basketball programs, and some of our other programs are in a different place than football, and have expectations to compete nationally in the top five in men’s and women’s basketball on a consistent basis. That requires a little bit different investment, but than we currently have for football, but our efforts and desires are to continue to get better and competitive. We have to do everything we can to increase our support.”

Dom Amore: Why not them? For UConn football, a coming out party at Fenway

It was an unusually quiet summer on the conference realignment front, as schools and conferences wait for new rules to shake out, but UConn has had serious interaction in recent years with the Big 12 and ACC and Benedict is hardly alone in believing it will not stay quiet.

“The only thing that’s constant in college athletics is change,” he said. “We need to be prepared for change.”