Historic House v. NCAA settlement gets final approval, allowing schools to pay college athletes
Universities can begin directly sharing revenue with college athletes starting July 1.
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A federal judge Friday granted final approval of the House v. NCAA settlement, a watershed agreement in college sports that permits schools to directly pay college athletes for the first time.
The settlement, which resolves a trio of antitrust cases against the NCAA and its most powerful conferences, establishes a new 10-year revenue sharing model in college sports, with athletic departments able to distribute roughly $20.5 million in name, image and likeness (NIL) revenue to athletes over the 2025-26 season. Previously, athletes could earn NIL compensation only with outside parties, including school-affiliated donor collectives that have become instrumental in teams’ recruiting.
Universities can begin directly sharing revenue with college athletes starting July 1.
A public letter from NCAA president Charlie Baker described the settlement’s approval as “a new beginning for Division I student-athletes and for the NCAA.”
To this point, collectives supporting specific schools have ruled the market, but administrators are hoping the House settlement will curtail that influence. In addition to schools being allowed to make NIL deals themselves, the new model also requires all outside NIL deals of more than $600 to go through a clearinghouse that will determine whether the payments are for a valid business purpose and reflect fair market value. Meanwhile, the settlement establishes an enforcement arm that will penalize schools that go over the $20.5 million cap. All of this will be overseen by a newly established regulatory body, called the College Sports Commission, which is in the process of shifting considerable oversight and control of college sports away from the NCAA and to the power conferences.
The NCAA’s Division I Board of Directors recently approved a series of proposals, pending settlement approval, that will strike 153 rules from the association’s handbook and clear the way for the settlement terms to be implemented.
