The landscape of college sports has been in constant change over the last few years, and now a major development has taken place that will ensure it is never the same again. On Friday night, Judge Claudia Wilken approved the House settlement in the House vs. NCAA lawsuit.
The biggest point in the settlement is that it now allows schools to pay their own athletes, instead of all payment having to go through NIL collectives. This ruling doesn’t end the controversy about whether athletes are considered employees of the universities that they play for, but schools being able to pay them is a massive development in the ongoing debate.
Schools will be able to pay athletes $20.5 million over the course of the year, with a decided split in which sports get how much money, according to Pete Nakos of On3 Sports.
“Beginning July 1, schools will be able to share $20.5 million with athletes, with football expected to receive 75%, followed by men’s basketball (15%), women’s basketball (5%) and the remainder of sports (5%),” Nakos wrote. “The amount shared in revenue will increase annually.”
That means that football programs will have about $15 million, give or take, to spend on their rosters.
The settlement will also introduce roster limits, which was a big sticking point between the two sides over the course of the last few months. Those roster limits will be grandfathered in, a stipulation that Wilkin required in order to go through with the approval of the settlement.
On Friday night, NCAA president Charlie Baker released a letter titled “A new beginning for Division I student-athletes and the NCAA.”
“Approving the agreement reached by the NCAA, the defendant conferences and student-athletes in the settlement opens a pathway to begin stabilizing college sports,” part of the letter read. “This new framework that enables schools to provide direct financial benefits to student-athletes and establishes clear and specific rules to regulate third-party NIL agreements marks a huge step forward for college sports.”
How this settlement affects the teams on the field and the court in 2025-26 remains to be seen, but there is no question that this massive change will impact the way that college sports work forever.
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