College sports commercialising faster

Big-time college sports now lets schools pay athletes directly, pushing top Division I programs closer to a professional revenue-sharing model. (espn.com) A federal judge approved the House v. National Collegiate Athletic Association settlement on June 6, 2025, ending three antitrust cases and clearing the way for payments to start on July 1, 2025. The deal also requires nearly $2.8 billion in back damages to athletes who competed in Division I sports from 2016 forward, paid over 10 years. (espn.com; ncaa.org) For the 2025-26 academic year, schools that opt in can provide up to about $20.5 million a year in direct financial benefits to athletes. The National Collegiate Athletic Association said the cap is tied to 22% of average power-conference media, ticket and sponsorship revenue. (ncaa.org; ncaa.org) That changes the old system created after the Supreme Court’s June 2021 ruling in National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston and the July 2021 launch of name, image and likeness deals. Since then, booster-funded “collectives” had become the main way top football and basketball players got paid outside school payrolls. (espn.com) The settlement shifts much of that money in-house. Athletic departments, not just outside collectives, can now cut the checks, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association adopted more than 150 rule changes in April 2025 to build a system for reporting payments and reviewing third-party deals. (ncaa.org) The new model reaches beyond football and men’s basketball. Schools that join it can scrap old sport-by-sport scholarship caps, offer full scholarships to every athlete on a declared roster, and use expanded scholarship slots that the National Collegiate Athletic Association said could double opportunities in women’s sports. (ncaa.org) Those benefits come with tighter roster rules. For schools in the settlement, scholarship limits are gone but roster caps now apply by sport, and athletes cut or promised spots before April 7, 2025 can be protected as “designated student-athletes” for the rest of their eligibility. (collegesportscommission.org) The National Collegiate Athletic Association and the power conferences say the system adds “stability” and “clarity” after years of court defeats and ad hoc name, image and likeness payments. Judge Claudia Wilken’s approval did not settle other fights, including whether college athletes should be treated as employees. (ncaa.org; espn.com) The result is a college sports economy that still uses campus rosters, eligibility clocks and scholarships, but now moves billions of dollars through payroll-like systems inside athletic departments. (espn.com; ncaa.org)