Exclusive: Candice Storey Lee outlines Vanderbilt's revenue sharing approach

Why Storey Lee says she is encouraged by Vanderbilt's strategy in regards to the NCAA vs. House settlement.

Storey Lee will head Vanderbilt's efforts to maximize its revenue sharing opportunities. | George Walker IV / Tennessean.com / USA TODAY NETWORK

When news broke of the NCAA vs House settlement’s final approval–which allows schools to directly compensate college athletes for the first time in the history of collegiate athletics—Vanderbilt Athletic Director Candice Storey Lee couldn’t help but feel “great.”

The ruling by Judge Claudia Wilken has given Storey Lee plenty to figure out and work through since its Jun. 6 approval, but she’s okay with that. Storey Lee and her counterparts have been prepping for the settlement and its potential impacts for a year and a half in hopes that it—or something like it—would come along to provide some standard procedures in their industry. Now they finally get to “press go” on their plan. 

“For Vanderbilt we think it’s a very good thing and we’re looking forward to optimizing our place in the new world,” Storey Lee told Vandy on SI in regards to revenue sharing. “It’s going to give us some much-needed regulation. I love college athletics and I think that the last two years we have not put our best foot forward, and not because we don’t want student athletes to share in revenue and from NIL, but in order to make the enterprise what I think we all believe you need to have some guardrails and you need to have some national standards.” 

The national standards surrounding revenue sharing includes a 20.5 million dollar cap for an athletic department to spend on student-athlete payment. Storey Lee tells Vandy on SI that Vanderbilt plans to “fully-fund” that 20.5 million dollars and will meet “whatever the cap is” as it is raised moving forward. Although she says she isn’t commenting on what percentage of that money will go to each of her programs despite privately having a clear outline of the distribution.

Perhaps Vanderbilt’s allocation of resources can be interpreted by the head of Vanderbilt’s NIL collective Anchor Impact Paul Grindstaff saying in the past that Storey Lee and Vanderbilt’s approach to revenue sharing is “in line” with other SEC athletic departments and that Vanderbilt is not the “poor kid on the block” when it comes to its ability to compensate players. 

“Candice and I are aligned on what it’s gonna take from a rev share standpoint to field a competitive team in our league,” Vanderbilt football coach Clark Lea told Vandy on SI. “I think the layer and the market value component will be interesting, but I’m excited for the potential.” 

Storey Lee and Lea will collaborate in an effort to advance Vanderbilt's football program | Vanderbilt Athletics

Wilken’s ruling makes player compensation more standardized for programs in terms of what they can and cannot spend as well as how they pay players, there’s rarely going to be an opportunity to dig up some money at the last second for a recruit at the end of a portal season like there was in previous years. Storey Lee believes that as a result of what her coaches and department have already been through, they’re equipped to handle the new era of roster building that approaches them. 

“I would say that the house settlement actually gives us an opportunity to invest broadly across our entire portfolio,” Storey Lee said. “Even before the settlement you had to think about where to invest. There was never an infinite amount of money, so we always had to decide where we were going to invest and where we were going to start so this is no different right now. Vandy United is a great example.” 

Storey Lee’s efforts with Vandy United have included renovating both end zones of Vanderbilt’s FirstBank Stadium, building the Huber Center–a new practice facility for men’s and women’s basketball–as well as leading the way in creating an environment to launch the school’s volleyball program. 

The way the Vanderbilt athletic department has approached fundraising and allocating resources towards its facility renovations has been noticeable in its process of approaching revenue sharing. If revenue sharing is going to end with the result that Vanderbilt desires like it did with its facility upgrades, it will be largely due to former Vanderbilt wide receiver Earl Bennett. 

Bennett–the athletic department’s Executive General Manager–is now leading Vanderbilt’s “roster and finance division,” which Storey Lee says “is about how we’re implementing the settlement across the board.” The former Vanderbilt receiver has since hired a capologist that will help coaches in terms of their approaches to revenue sharing. Bennett will also be a “primary liaison” with “everything that is happening with NIL Go and all the third-party opportunities.” The NIL piece of his job will still be important as Vanderbilt looks to maximize on true name, image and likeness opportunities in order to get a leg up.

“While coaches are having to refine their roles, it’s my job to make sure that in our department we’re also ready to meet the new model,” Storey Lee said. “I’ve been really focused on that too so coaches know that we’re all in this together.” 

Storey Lee believes that the house settlement is the beginning of “some other work” that needs to be done on the national level to make college sports more functional, but she’s encouraged by the guardrails she believes it provides as well as the increased scholarship limits across most sports. 

She says she’ll continue to move forward in her efforts to use player compensation as a means to win in major sports and generate revenue for the school, but wants to make sure not to overlook any athlete in the process.

“It’s always about where you feel like you get the biggest return on investment,” Storey Lee said, “But it’s also for us about how we make sure that all of our student athletes are in a better position. That’s always our goal.”