University of Minnesota officials confirmed they are set to pay a cost-of-attendance stipend to the school's student-athletes, including football players, per the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
The news comes on the heels of the Texas athletic director's announcement that the Longhorns intend to pay their student-athletes a stipend to cover the cost of attendance.
"Every institution may look at it a little differently," deputy director of athletics Beth Goetz told the paper. "We value equity and support all our programs. We fully fund all of our sports, and this would be an extension of what Minnesota already is committed to doing."
The average gap between a Minnesota scholarship and the full cost of attending the school is $2,194 per year, according to NCAA figures. That would make the Gophers' bill significantly less expensive than Texas', which would have to pay student-athletes roughly $5,000 a year to cover the gap.
Things are just in the planning phase at the moment, though, with legislation still making its way through the NCAA system. The NCAA has filed an intent to appeal the O'Bannon case decision, and the outcome of that case could also impact the university's bottom line down the road.
"With cost of attendance, we control our own destiny, and we're committed to pushing forward on that because we know we will move on that," Goetz said. "There is no final outcome of that (antitrust) case; there is a lot of follow-up, more steps in the legal process. Certainly that's the ruling out now, so something would have to change for that not to go into effect at some point."
School officials told the paper they do not expect to make any cuts to sports or programs as a result of the stipends.
And they shouldn't be considering those cuts, given the hefty television-revenue payments Big Ten schools are receiving from the league office.
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