Why Dallas Baptist, With One D-I Sport, Opted Into Revenue Sharing

This summer, NCAA schools had to decide whether they would commit to the new rules of top-tier college sports. Dallas Baptist University didn’t hesitate—the Patriots were in.

Most DBU athletic teams compete at the Division II level, and the school doesn’t even have a football team. But its baseball program is a D-I contender—one of only five schools to make the NCAA tournament in each of the last 10 seasons—and athletic director Matt Duce is determined to keep it that way.

Dallas Baptist is one of nine schools that primarily competes at lower levels of college sports but opted into the new revenue-sharing model overseen by the College Sports Commission before this year’s June 30 deadline.

“The decision was not so much if we are going to opt in or not, but just how we’re going to adapt to the new climate,” Duce said in a phone interview. “If you don’t do it, then you’re gonna have a really hard time competing.”

DBU baseball has punched above its weight class since moving to D-I in 2004. It has won two NCAA regional championships and seen more than 50 Patriots selected in the MLB draft under current coach Dan Heefner. It joined Conference USA for baseball in 2022.

Through corporate sponsorships, ticket revenue and donor support, the DBU baseball program anchors its school’s athletic department while also serving as an attention- and credibility-driver for the entire university, which has an undergraduate enrollment of roughly 2,850. 

“Every June, we have the chance to be on TVs all around the nation,” Duce said.

Under the new rules, DBU will be able to go beyond the 11.7 scholarships NCAA baseball programs were previously limited to. It will also be able to share department revenue directly with athletes. But so will the big boy teams, with some saying they’ll quickly jump to the new maximum of 34 slots.

What remains to be seen is whether schools like DBU—or 2025 College World Series runner-up Coastal Carolina—can find an advantage by prioritizing smaller sports while power five football schools divert the large majority of their resources to gridiron and hardwood efforts. 

DBU—as an entire university—generated $150 million in revenues last year, according to public tax filings, while the University of Texas athletic department three hours south pulled in $332 million by itself.  

Duce declined to share just how much money DBU will allocate to baseball players this year but did say the department is looking to maximize that number and grow it year-over-year. Within the last two years, the department hired its first person dedicated to fundraising from corporate sponsors and annual donors. It has also slimmed down elsewhere; in April, the school announced that it would transition men’s and women’s tennis to club sport status beginning in 2025-26. As DII programs, other sports will continue playing by the pre-existing rules, which allow players to monetize their own name, image, and likeness rights.

“It’s a combination of learning to operate as effectively as we have, but a little bit leaner, so that we can place more emphasis on hitting some of those low-hanging fruit in the revenue areas,” Duce said.

Along the way the Patriots will continue relying on their faith-based mission to attract and develop players. Duce also acknowledges that this isn’t the end of the landscape’s shakeups, with more litigation and legislation expected amid college sport’s tumult. 

“We pride ourselves on competing. And so that’s where we’re at. Our vision is not changing, our mission is not changing,” Duce said. “It’s just how you do business is a little bit different, and we’re going to adapt, just like we always have.”