College athletics enters a seismic new phase on July 1, as the historic House v. NCAA settlement goes into effect. With Judge Claudia Wilken’s approval, a $2.8 billion antitrust resolution shatters a century-old foundation of amateurism. For the first time, universities will be allowed to directly compensate athletes for their name, image, and likeness (NIL), a concept once seen as heretical in the halls of college sports governance. Licensing deals, media revenue, and sponsorship money are now fair game—and a new economic order is settling in.
Some questions and answers about this monumental change for college athletics:
What is the NCAA House Settlement, and why are payouts being made?
At the center of this revolution is Grant House, a former Arizona State swimmer who helped ignite the legal firestorm. His lawsuit—consolidated with two others—targeted the NCAA and Power Five conferences, challenging their long-standing refusal to let schools cut checks directly to athletes. The resulting compromise ends that restriction and creates an entirely new landscape: schools can now engage in direct revenue sharing with athletes, fundamentally changing the player-school relationship.
The settlement also formalizes what was once murky: that athletes, just like any other student entrepreneur or musician, can profit from their personal brand. While schools like Harvard and others in the Ivy League opted out of the revenue-sharing model, they must still contribute toward the settlement payout to athletes who competed between 2016 and 2024. Division I alone boasts nearly 200,000 athletes across 350 schools; nationally, the NCAA serves more than 500,000 athletes at over 1,100 schools, meaning the scope and scale of these payments is immense.
How much will the athletes receive from the NCAA House Settlement?
In the 2025–26 academic year, schools opting in can pay athletes up to approximately $20.5 million annually, or 22% of their athletic revenue. Alabama AD Greg Byrne famously told Congress, “Those are resources and revenues that don’t exist.” Over time, this cap is projected to rise, potentially hitting $33 million per school in the coming decade. That figure includes money derived from media rights deals, sponsorships, and ticket sales. Some schools are already cushioning the expense by introducing “talent fees,” higher concession prices, or increased athletic surcharges on tuition bills.
While critics argue that these “revenues don’t exist” in a balanced budget, the increasing payouts from College Football Playoff media deals suggest otherwise. Add scholarships and other benefits to the revenue-sharing math, and athlete compensation could approach 50% of a department’s revenue. An unthinkable number just five years ago.
When is the settlement payout supposed to roll out, and what is the eligibility?
Starting July 1, a newly formed College Sports Commission will oversee compliance, regulation, and enforcement of these payout structures. Any NCAA school that opted into the settlement is now permitted to share revenue, regardless of division or size. Programs in the Big 12, SEC, and Big Ten have all signaled they will maximize the revenue share cap from day one, fully embracing the new model.
Even schools outside the Power Five are getting creative. The American Athletic Conference (AAC) is requiring its members to share $10 million across three years. Sacramento State, an FCS program with FBS ambitions, also intends to begin revenue sharing. Still, many smaller FBS programs may sit this one out entirely, balking at the financial risk.
Will the current and future athletes be eligible for payouts under this settlement?
Yes—but there’s a catch. Athletes can still sign traditional NIL deals, but those agreements must now flow through a centralized clearinghouse known as NIL Go, developed with Deloitte. The platform vets each deal to confirm it reflects fair market value and an actual business purpose. It’s a safeguard designed to limit booster-run collectives from warping the system.
Consider Cooper Flagg at Duke. His brand power allows Duke to compensate him through NIL without dipping into its $20 million revenue-sharing pot. This structure incentivizes programs to diversify how they allocate compensation while maintaining a layer of transparency and accountability.
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