From the Desk of AD Laird Veatch: Mizzou Athletics Embarks on New Era With ‘Will to Win’
6/8/2025 11:25:00 AM | General
Mizzou AD outlines what the House v. NCAA settlement means for Tiger student-athletes and supporters.
Dear Mizzou Family,
Friday's announcement regarding the House v. NCAA settlement represents a historic turning point in college athletics — and it signals the beginning of a bold new chapter for Mizzou and institutions across the country. After months of legal proceedings and years of dialogue around how to best support student-athletes, we now have a clear path forward. It is a new day in college sports — and a critical opportunity for Mizzou Athletics.
This moment marks the first time in history that college athletics departments will be able to share a portion of their revenue directly with student-athletes. Beginning July 1, schools in the SEC, and other conferences, will have the option to distribute up to an estimated $20.5 million per year to student-athletes — on top of athletics scholarships, third-party NIL earnings and other benefits. SEC institutions, and schools around the country, are committed to fairness, transparency and accountability in our new model.
As we've shared with you previously, our Mizzou Athletics staff has spent the past year preparing for this outcome, and while we recognize the operational shifts this requires, we are approaching the new era with a sense of purpose and optimism.
With that, I want to double down on one crucial point: At Mizzou, we see this moment as an opportunity.This is a pivotal time to reaffirm our commitment to invest in what drives competitive success and embrace the innovation that's necessary for us to thrive at the highest level.
With your response to the ticket pricing and fundraising adjustments we made earlier this year, along with a significant reallocation of internal resources, we have already committed to the full $20.5 million in "revenue share" support to our student-athletes for next year.
This new model allows us to provide even greater opportunities for our student-athletes to benefit financially. By participating in revenue sharing at the highest level to maintain our competitive advantages, student-athletes around the country will know that Mizzou welcomes this evolution. Our commitment includes more than 60 new scholarships totaling approximately $3 million for next year.
Additionally, student-athletes will still be able to benefit from Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals with outside businesses, and our partner corporations are incredibly excited to help support. These NIL deals will now be reported through a new online platform called NIL Go to ensure they meet a set of established standards, developed by the newly created College Sports Commission with guidance from Deloitte. We will be asking the Mizzou business community to embrace these opportunities and will provide more information in the near future.
To our Mizzou fans, donors, alumni and friends: Understand that our focus remains firmly on seizing this opportunity to advance Mizzou's mission and compete for championships driven by our collective "Will to Win." Everyone wants to win. But we must all have a true "will" to win, where we are laser focused on winning championships, hanging banners and creating incredible lifelong memories.
We know many of you have questions about how this will work. Our open and transparent communication with you, along with our coaches, student-athletes and staff will continue in the weeks and months ahead, including an upcoming unique opportunity to ask direct questions about this new era in college athletics.
Thank you for standing with us during this transformational time. For more information on the College Sports Commission and the new policies, please visit www.collegesportscommission.org.
M-I-Z,
Laird Veatch
Director of Athletics
University of Missouri
