NIL

Judge approves NCAA settlement allowing schools to pay athletes: Winners and losers

Published

7 months ago

June 8, 2025

A federal judge signed off on arguably the biggest change in the history of college sports Friday, clearing the way for schools to begin paying their athletes millions as soon as next month as the multibillion-dollar industry shreds the last vestiges of the amateur model that defined it for more than a century.

Nearly five years after Arizona State swimmer Grant House sued the NCAA and its five biggest conferences to lift restrictions on revenue sharing, U.S. Judge Claudia Wilken approved the final proposal that had been hung up on roster limits, just one of many changes ahead amid concerns that thousands of walk-on athletes will lose their chance to play college sports.

The sweeping terms of the so-called House settlement include approval for each school to share up to $20.5 million with athletes over the next year and $2.7 billion that will be paid over the next decade to thousands of former players who were barred from that revenue for years.

Syracuse University has said it intends to distribute the full $20.5 million spending cap on its athletes, though it has declined to say how that money will be distributed across football, men’s and women’s basketball and the other sports.

Le Moyne, which recently moved its sports programs to compete in Division I, has not said how much it will pay its players. Division I schools can choose to “opt in” to revenue sharing by June 15.

All Division I athletes will be subject to the new rules around third-party pay regardless of whether their school opts in to revenue sharing.

One of the lead plaintiff attorneys, Steve Berman, called Friday’s news “a fantastic win for hundreds of thousands of college athletes.”

The agreement brings a seismic shift to hundreds of schools that were forced to reckon with the reality that their players are the ones producing the billions in TV and other revenue, mostly through football and basketball, that keep this machine humming.

The scope of the changes — some have already begun — is difficult to overstate. The professionalization of college athletics will be seen in the high-stakes and expensive recruitment of stars on their way to the NFL and NBA, and they will be felt by athletes whose schools have decided to pare their programs. The agreement will resonate in nearly every one of the NCAA’s 1,100 member schools boasting nearly 500,000 athletes.

NCAA President Charlie Baker said the deal “opens a pathway to begin stabilizing college sports.”

The road to a settlement

Wilken’s ruling comes 11 years after she dealt the first significant blow to the NCAA ideal of amateurism. Then, she ruled in favor of former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon and others seeking a way to earn money from the use of their name, image and likeness (NIL) — a term that is now as common in college sports as “March Madness” or “Roll Tide.”

It was just four years ago that the NCAA cleared the way for NIL money to start flowing, but the changes coming are even bigger.

Wilken granted preliminary approval to the settlement last October. That sent colleges scurrying to determine not only how they were going to afford the payments, but how to regulate an industry that also allows players to cut deals with third parties so long as they are deemed compliant by a newly formed enforcement group that will be run by auditors at Deloitte.

The agreement takes a big chunk of oversight away from the NCAA and puts it in the hands of the four biggest conferences. The ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC hold most of the power and decision-making heft, especially when it comes to the College Football Playoff, which is the most significant financial driver in the industry and is not under the NCAA umbrella like the March Madness tournaments are.

Roster limits held things up

The deal looked ready to go, but Wilken put a halt to it this spring after listening to a number of players who had lost their spots because of newly imposed roster limits being placed on teams.

The limits were part of a trade-off that allowed the schools to offer scholarships to everyone on the roster, instead of only a fraction, as has been the case for decades. Schools started cutting walk-ons in anticipation of the deal being approved.

Wilken asked for a solution and, after weeks, the parties decided to let anyone cut from a roster — now termed a “Designated Student-Athlete” — return to their old school or play for a new one without counting against the new limit.

Wilken ultimately agreed, going point-by-point through the objectors’ arguments to explain why they didn’t hold up. The main point pushed by the parties was that those roster spots were never guaranteed in the first place.

“The modifications provide Designated Student-Athletes with what they had prior to the roster limits provisions being implemented, which was the opportunity to be on a roster at the discretion of a Division I school,” Wilken wrote.

Her decision, however, took nearly a month to write, leaving the schools and conferences in limbo — unsure if the plans they’d been making for months, really years, would go into play.

“It remains to be seen how this will impact the future of inter-collegiate athletics — but as we continue to evolve, Carolina remains committed to providing outstanding experiences and broad-based programming to student-athletes,” North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham said.

Winners and losers

The list of winners and losers is long and, in some cases, hard to tease out.

A rough guide of winners would include football and basketball stars at the biggest schools, which will devote much of their bankroll to signing and retaining them. For instance, Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood’s NIL deal is reportedly worth between $10.5 million and $12 million.

Losers, despite Wilken’s ruling, figure to be at least some of the walk-ons and partial scholarship athletes whose spots are gone.

Also in limbo are the Olympic sports many of those athletes play and that serve as the main pipeline for a U.S. team that has won the most medals at every Olympics since the downfall of the Soviet Union.

All this is a price worth paying, according to the attorneys who crafted the settlement and argue they delivered exactly what they were asked for: an attempt to put more money in the pockets of the players whose sweat and toil keep people watching from the start of football season through March Madness and the College World Series in June.

What the settlement does not solve is the threat of further litigation.

Though this deal brings some uniformity to the rules, states still have separate laws regarding how NIL can be doled out, which could lead to legal challenges. Baker has been consistent in pushing for federal legislation that would put college sports under one rulebook and, if he has his way, provide some form of antitrust protection to prevent the new model from being disrupted again.

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Report shares why Penn State did not spend ‘a ton of time’ pursuing Kalen DeBoer, Mike Elko

Published

5 minutes ago

December 25, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Penn State‘s head coaching search may have taken longer than expected, but the Nittany Lions ultimately landed their guy — Matt Campbell from Iowa State. According to a recent report from ESPN, however, the search apparently featured a number of big-name college football candidates to replace James Franklin.

These names included Alabama‘s Kalen DeBoer, Notre Dame‘s Marcus Freeman and Texas A&M‘s Mike Elko. All surfaced as “potential candidates,” with Elko looked at as “the most realistic,” given his ties to the region.

“The whole time, we thought Elko was going to be the guy,” one SEC coach told ESPN. “Then he came off the board.”

Elko just finished an 11-2 season at Texas A&M, leading the Aggies to its first-ever College Football Playoff. His Aggies were undefeated for the first 13 weeks of the season while Penn State continued it’s head coaching search. Texas A&M went on to extend his on Nov. 15.

For DeBoer, he denied having interest in the Nittany Lions’ job. Freeman was in the middle of leading Notre Dame to a 10-game win streak to lose the season. According to another ESPN source, Penn State “never spent a ton of time on those guys knowing their current situations.”

It wasn’t until early December that Penn State announced the hire of former Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell. The hire appears to have been well-received on social media and recruits alike.

He’s bringing to Happy Valley a resume that includes a 107–70 overall as a head coach. He built the Iowa State program from the ground up after a successful stint as Toledo’s head coach. Starting with a 3-9 finish in his first year with the program, Campbell led the Cyclones to a program record five-straight bowl games.

In 2024, Iowa State had its best season yet under Campbell. Leading the Cyclones to an 11-3 record, they came up just short of the College Football Playoff after losing to Arizona State in the Big 12 Championship game. They were ranked as high as No. 9 in the AP Poll last season.

He is expected to mirror that success and then some as the Nittany Lions’ new head coach, all while competing alongside the DeBoer’s, Freeman’s and Elko’s at the forefront of college football. Campbell’s effort is already underway in Happy Valley, and the product of it will be seen next fall.

The first step — the NCAA transfer portal. Penn State was left with two signees in its 2025 recruiting class, so he’ll be focused on bolstering his roster once it opens on Jan. 2.

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South Carolina EDGE Taeshawn Alston plans to enter NCAA Transfer Portal

Published

58 minutes ago

December 25, 2025

Your Sports Nation

South Carolina freshman EDGE rusher Taeshawn Alston plans to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal, On3’s Pete Nakos reports. Alston did not see any game action this season and redshirted.

The news of Alston’s transfer comes one day after it was revealed that All-SEC EDGE rusher Dylan Stewart would be returning to Columbia next season. The projected future top-ten NFL Draft pick signed a new rev share/NIL agreement with the school and announced his return on Instagram Tuesday.

Prior to enrolling at South Carolina, Alston was ranked as a three-star prospect and the No. 674 overall player in the 2025 class, according to the On3 Consensus. He was the No. 65-ranked EDGE rusher in his class and the No. 16 overall player from the state of North Carolina, hailing from Vance County.

Alston chose South Carolina over programs such as Colorado, West Virginia, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, and North Carolina coming out of high school. Alston’s secondary recruiter, defensive line coach Sterling Lucas, was poached by Lane Kiffin and LSU this offseason.

This past season was extremely disappointing for South Carolina, which opened the season ranked No. 13 in the Preseason AP Poll. The Gamecocks kicked off their season with back-to-back wins, but went just 2-8 over their remaining 10 games to finish with a 4-8 record.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire.

The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.

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VIDEO: Cantwell goes one-on-one to talk navigating football & NIL

Published

2 hours ago

December 24, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Part 1:

Part 2:

Nixa’s Jackson Cantwell made the transition from tight end to the offensive tackle and quickly realized that his talents would take him far. He racked up accolades like Gatorade’s National Player of the Year and No. 1 college football recruit in the 2026 class.

As a high school junior, he came to realize that his top-tier college recruiting brings NIL into the picture.

Cantwell and KY3’s Danielle King sat one-on-one to discuss how he navigated NIL, from hiring sports agent Drew Rosenhaus to enjoying the food that comes with brand deals.

Rosenhaus, one of the leading NFL representatives, also chatted with King about representing Cantwell, the young NIL landscape and more.

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Coveted dual-threat quarterback entering college football transfer portal

Published

3 hours ago

December 24, 2025

Your Sports Nation

The college football transfer portal is only ten days away from officially opening for business. That hasn’t stopped players around the country from getting a head start on the action, as nearly 1,100 names are expected to transfer.

That number will continue to rise over the next few weeks. The movement could be unprecedented this offseason, as the spring window has been eliminated, meaning there will be only 15 days for players to appear in the portal.

The quarterback market is packed. Though the group might not be as top-heavy as the last few seasons, there will still be plenty of talented signal-callers available.

Former Freshman Of The Year Transferring From Arkansas State

On Tuesday evening, Arkansas State junior quarterback Jaylen Raynor revealed his intentions to transfer, per 247Sports’ Matt Zenitz.

Raynor spent the last three seasons as the starter for the Red Wolves. In 2025, he completed 333/501 passes for 3,361 yards with 19 touchdowns to 11 interceptions. He added 154 rushes for 423 yards and 7 more scores.

Raynor led the Sun Belt Conference in completions, attempts, yards, and interceptions.

Arkansas State finished 7-6, defeating Missouri State, 34-28, in the Xbox Bowl.

Raynor signed with the Red Wolves as a two-star prospect in the 2023 class. He leaped into the starting role early in his true freshman season, taking the reins for the final 10 games of the year.

Raynor was named the Sun Belt’s Freshman of the Year after completing 166/285 passes for 2,550 yards with 17 touchdowns to 7 interceptions. He rushed for 5 more scores.

The North Carolina native tied Arkansas State’s program record with six touchdown passes against UMass on September 30, 2023.

Raynor continued to lead the Red Wolves as a sophomore. In 2024, Arkansas State went 8-5 and defeated Bowling Green in the 68 Ventures Bowl.

Overall, Raynor is 20-16 as a starting quarterback and he’s 2-1 in bowl games.

During his college career, he’s completed 758 of 1,206 passes for 8,694 yards with 52 touchdowns and 28 interceptions. Raynor has rushed 414 times for 1,183 yards and 15 more scores.

The 6-foot-0, 202-pound quarterback has two years to play one at the college level.

Out of high school, Raynor held offers from programs such as UMass, Miami (OH), Army, Air Force, and Navy.

Two things about NIL and Brohm

Published

4 hours ago

December 24, 2025

Your Sports Nation

1. The latest actual numbers I can find…per 247 sports, U of L was 20th in NIL monies in college sports at about 450 million. Now we are approaching 2026 and things obviously have changed, but we were at least trying to play the NIL game.

2. Jeff did not leave Purdue the first time because the timing wasn’t right or he still had a job to do with the Boilermakers. I respected Jeff for that and quite frankly made me feel more proud of who he was as a person .

I could be naive and stupid but:

A. This crazy money by rich people to pay athletes is just that, crazy and not sustainable long term.

B. U of L is probably doing the best it can but can not compete against oil monies etc.

C. Love him or not, (I love Jeff as our coach) he is the best we could have and feel safe he wants to stay. (Is this a dumb statement given the leaving fears?)

D. Let’s keep winning at Jeff’s level or better

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4 Missouri football staffers, including lead NIL exec, follow Moore to WSU

Published

5 hours ago

December 24, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Updated Dec. 24, 2025, 2:51 p.m. CT

Four Missouri football staff members, including the lead executive of the Tigers’ NIL agency, are leaving MU to follow former offensive coordinator Kirby Moore to Washington State.

Brad Larrondo, who was the CEO and general manager of Every True Tiger Brands, is moving to take a role at WSU. He is a Boise State grad and still has significant connections to the region.

The Tigers also are set to lose tight ends coach Derham Cato to the same role with the Cougars, and Mizzou assistant offensive line coach Jack Abercrombie is set to become Moore’s lead O-line coach. Those staff changes were first reported by Matt Zenitz at CBS Sports.

Finally, Mizzou assistant director of football athletic performance Malcolm Hardmon will become Washington State’s strength and conditioning coach, per Bruce Feldman at The Athletic.

The most significant loss of the group, arguably, is Larrondo, who has been instrumental in the name, image and likeness space for Missouri.

Mizzou coach Eli Drinkwitz originally hired Larrondo, who like the MU coach had spent time working at Auburn and Boise State, to oversee recruiting and external relations. Larrondo ultimately became the lead executive at Every True Tiger, where he helped establish the core of Mizzou’s current NIL structure.

Every True Tiger and Larrondo are influential in negotiating both revenue-sharing and third-party NIL deals for Missouri athletes, as well as distributing money to athletes and making sure the football program remains within its spending cap. The agency also is a marketing arm and has helped facilitate deals for Mizzou student-athletes.

The college football transfer portal is approaching, which brings significant challenges for both roster retention and recruitment for teams — something Larrondo would have been closely involved with.

The portal officially opens Jan. 2 and remains open for new entries through Jan. 16.

Missouri football has not hired a general manager partly because, with Drinkwitz at the forefront, it has recreated that role in the aggregate through Larrondo and other staffers.

Drinkwitz responded to reports of Larrondo’s exit via his personal X/Twitter account.

“Good luck to Brad and thank you for all he did, but MIZZOU NIL was started way before Brad, and is a STRONG POSITION! Carry on!” Drinkwitz wrote Wednesday, Dec. 24.

Beyond Larrondo, the staff shakeup was seemingly expected. Drinkwitz indicated Dec. 16 that some assistants could end up following Moore to Pullman, Washington.

“Could lose a couple more people off of our staff from analyst roles as coach Moore finalizes and puts his staff together,” Drinkwitz said Dec. 16. “It shouldn’t change the dynamic of what we do at all.”