Student-athletes could start getting paid directly by their universities.
This comes after a historic legal settlement was reached, as the NCAA and its Power 5 conferences — Southeastern, Atlantic Coast, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12 — agreed to pay almost $2.8 billion in antitrust settlements.
All Division I athletes dating to 2016 are eligible to receive a share as part of the settlement class. In exchange, athletes cannot sue the NCAA over other alleged antitrust violations and must drop complaints in three open cases.
The agreement also sets up a revenue-sharing model that would essentially work as a salary cap. Each Power 5 school would be allowed to set aside up to $21 million a year to share with its athletes. The amount is derived from taking 22% of the average school athletic revenue. That cap could rise as revenue rises.
For programs not among the Power 5 programs, like the University of South Florida, it could make it harder to compete and pay recruits.
USF athletic director Michael Kelly said if the program wants to pay athletes, it may need to take those funds away from other areas.
“It's just another thing that you have to evaluate,” Kelly said. “Do we put more into the travel budget or you put more into the student-athlete compensation bucket? And there's still so much to be determined about that.”
But Kelly said USF, which fields teams in the American Athletic Conference, is in a good spot to take advantage of the change, especially with efforts like its planned on-campus football stadium and increased support from the university.
“It's going to complete what I think is one of the finest athletic districts in the country,” he said. “As (hockey Hall of Famer) Wayne Gretzky used to say, ‘Don't go where the puck is, you go where the puck is going to be.’ And where the puck is going to be in three to five years is a place USF is going to be extremely well-positioned.”
The settlement still needs to be approved by a federal judge before any changes are made.
Over 14,000 former and current college athletes will be paid for potential endorsement and sponsorship deals they could not receive, dating back to 2016. The money will be paid out over 10 years.
The NCAA is now looking to Congress to pass legislation that would give the organization and its schools immunity from future antitrust lawsuits.
