As college athletic departments across the country brace for a new era of sharing revenue directly with their athletes, USC is eliminating a dozen jobs in its athletic department in an effort to reduce costs in the wake of the House vs. NCAA settlement.
Six athletics employees were told late last week that their roles in the department had been eliminated, a person familiar with the decision but not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Times. The most senior among them was Paul Perrier, an executive senior associate athletic director, who spent two six-year stints at USC working under three athletic directors.
Six other vacant roles have also since been eliminated, the person said.
USC is planning to share the maximum of $20.5 million with its athletes that’s permitted by the settlement in 2025, the vast majority of which will go to the football program. That’s no small expenditure — especially for a university in the midst of serious financial issues.
USC, like other schools, continues to explore other revenue streams to help pay for the costs associated with this new landscape of college athletics. USC recently signed a 15-year multimedia rights deal with Learfield that should help ease some of the burden of revenue sharing. Last season, the school sold ad space in the Coliseum end zone to DirecTV.
Some schools have opted to cut sports, in an attempt to reduce costs. But USC has yet to choose that route. Instead, athletic director Jennifer Cohen announced last month that USC would invest revenue-sharing dollars, in some form or fashion, with all 23 of the school’s athletics programs.
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