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The Florida Board of Governors just opened up a major financial lifeline for the state’s athletic departments. On Wednesday, they approved a change that lets state universities use up to $22.5 million yearly from auxiliary funds to help cover costs from the NCAA v. House settlement. This temporary fix will stay in place through 2028.
This is huge for Florida schools scrambling to adapt to college sports’ new reality — one where they’ll need to directly pay athletes. Before this change, schools couldn’t touch money from campus housing, parking, dining, or bookstore fees to fund athletics. The rule was designed to keep athletic departments financially independent.
Florida’s situation was actually pretty unusual. Most states have long allowed their universities to use student fees and other institutional money to prop up their athletic programs.
The timing couldn’t be better. Starting this fall, schools can share up to $20.5 million annually with athletes under the House settlement that completely rewrote the NCAA’s amateurism playbook. That amount will grow by at least 4% each year during the 10-year deal.
This matters most for the six FBS programs in Florida’s university system.
Florida State might be the biggest winner here. The Seminoles aren’t just getting access to this auxiliary money — they’re also expecting an extra $15-20 million annually from their legal battle with the ACC. That’s a serious financial advantage during college sports’ most transformative period in decades.
Florida isn’t going it alone, either.
Louisiana just made a similar move, taking a different approach. They’re raising taxes on sports betting to funnel over $24 million to their public university athletic departments. That plan still needs Governor Jeff Landry’s signature to become official.
The Board’s decision essentially creates a three-year bridge to help Florida schools navigate this new financial landscape — one where athlete compensation has finally become the standard rather than the exception.
