Pay to Play is Here: The New Era of College Sports Begins

Late yesterday, ironically D-Day, June 6, 2025, amateurism in college sports officially came to an end following a prolonged settlement negotiation process that was almost a year in the making. After 5 years of litigation, the NCAA succumbed to the pressure of potentially $20 billion dollars in liability due to treble anti-trust damages.https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6256000/2025/04/07/house-v-ncaa-settlement-revenue-sharing-explained/

What does the settlement do? There is a lot to unpack, but in essence:

1. The NCAA and the power conferences will pay $2.8 billion over 10 years to former D1 athletes who were denied the ability to earn NIL because of the NCAA’s prior bans on compensation. Most of this will go to football and men’s basketball players.
2. The previous rules restricting sport by sport scholarships will be replaced by roster caps, with every roster spot eligible for a scholarship. Schools are able to distribute scholarships in whole or in part as they see fit. This part of the settlement was the focus of many of those who objected in the settlement hearings.https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6256000/2025/04/07/house-v-ncaa-settlement-revenue-sharing-explained/
3. In response to the often emotional testimony by objectors who lost or were at risk of losing their existing roster spots, Judge Claudia Wilken ordered the parties to revise the settlement to provide for “grandfathering” or face the risk of going to trial. In response, the parties included a provision that allows schools to voluntarily “grandfather in” any athlete who was or who would have been cut due to the roster limits, so that their spots will not count against the roster limits for the remainder of their eligibility. This status would follow the athletes, even if they transfer institutions. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6341222/2025/05/07/house-vs-ncaa-roster-limits-revision/

So, what happens now? An outside entity, the College Sports Commission, has been designated as the enforcement agency for the new collegiate athletic universe. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6409170/2025/06/06/bryan-seeley-college-sports-commission-ceo/ The Commission, which recently hired MLB executive Bryan Seeley as its first CEO, will enforce the revenue sharing cap, review any NIL deals of $600 or more for fair market value through a clearinghouse, and impose discipline for violations. The NCAA will retain responsibility for enforcing academic and eligibility rules.

Significant concerns remain, including: 1) whether schools will actually voluntarily grandfather athletes, thereby preserving their roster spots; 2) what the impact of the settlement will be upon Title IX, and Olympic sports, in particular; 3) the implications of potentially reopening the settlement on an annual basis over the next decade, as future collegiate athletes who were not represented in the settlement negotiations will have the capacity to object; and 4) the prospect of future litigation on a variety of fronts by those who are not parties to the settlement agreement. Of note, the settlement does NOT address the status of athletes as employees.

While several federal bills have been introduced, https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/44608116/with-ncaa-settlement-pending-power-4-stakeholders-lobby-federal-nil-legislation-capitol-hill, and a presidential proclamation establishing a federal commission has been proposed, https://www.aol.com/ncaa-president-trump-commission-plan-004900183.html, to date no action has been taken. While the era of amateurism in collegiate athletics has clearly ended, it remains to be seen what the new frontier will look like.