UCLA Player Talks Navigating Revenue Sharing Era, Locker Room Dynamics

UCLA Bruins and college football players are entering a brand new era of college athletics when they receive their revenue-sharing payments on Friday, Aug. 1.

NIL has been around long enough for many to understand, but as part of the latest historic House v. NCAA settlement, universities are now able to pay their student-athletes directly. DeShaun Foster and his staff, though, have already devised a plan to pay their players that everyone understands.

The second-year head coach discussed the changing landscape at Big Ten Media Days and their plan to distribute among players based on availability.

"We went completely off your ability," Foster said on how he is distributing the revenue-sharing money. "[We're] going to evaluate the talent and then place into where we think we need to pay them. Everything went good. The players understood that. They fired up about the situation and they loved that we had people explain to them, 'how you're getting this money,' or, 'why you're not getting this money,' and I think that resonated with our players."

How The Players Are Handling It

Bruins transfer linebacker Isaiah Chisom spoke to the media following UCLA's first day of fall camp Wednesday, and opened up on the dynamics of navigating this new era personally and in the locker room.

"I think everybody's excited," Chisom said, laughing when asked about his first payment coming in Friday. "It's great that the settlement went through and everybody is going to start getting paid."

Foster and his players will likely refrain from revealing specific numbers, but they don't deny that there's an elephant in the room when varying amounts of money are involved.

On if he and his teammates discuss the money amongst themselves, Chisom said, "We try not to. Obviously, people know how much certain people are getting, but at the end of the day, we all came here for one reason, and it's to play football. The extra money we get is just extra. It's not making anybody play harder or do anything like that.

"Like coach Foster said, 'We still have to line it up. We could talk about how much money somebody's getting, but at the end of the day, we still all have to perform.'"

Under the new settlement, players are still able to negotiate and partake in NIL deals outside of the school. Per the settlement, NIL deals for athletes that exceed $600 must be approved by NIL Go, a creation of the College Sports Commission, to ensure that deals are serving actual business purposes. Chisom touched on nearly every Bruin engaing in NIL deals.

"We basically all [have NIL deals in the works]," he said. "We're working with the company to be able to do that type of stuff."

You see it all the time in professional sports. Varying wages amongst teammates can be a reason for tension in the locker room. However, Chisom made it known that there's no room for anything like that in UCLA's locker room.

"It definitely can expose a team," Chisom said. "Or bring up a team. It really depends on the people you have on the roster. But the coaches did a great job, I'm going to keep giving them their flowers, but they've done a great job of bringing in the right type of character and people who want to play football and are excited to play in California and the Rose Bowl."

There might not be a better coach and coaching staff than Foster and his equipped to navigate a full team through this new era of college football.

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