The NCAA and its five power conference leagues have come to a nearly $2.7-billion settlement in a pair of federal antitrust lawsuits, with college athletes set to be paid for the first time

The NCAA’s monumental settlement with its five power conference leagues has forever altered the landscape of college sports, marking the first time student-athletes will receive payment from their institutions.

Despite its roots in amateurism, college sports are now set to become part of an innovative revenue-sharing model where schools can pay athletes up to $20.5 million annually starting in 2025-26. Following U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken’s resolution of three separate antitrust lawsuits last week, colleges will also retroactively compensate athletes $2.8 billion for those who competed from 2016 to 2025.

This development comes on the heels of the University of Oklahoma’s announcement that it would be downsizing its athletic department staff due to revenue sharing with student-athletes, resulting in a five percent job loss. In other news, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman has urged the NCAA to have just one transfer portal window instead of two.

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Beginning in the fall of 2025, athletes will start receiving direct payments from their schools through revenue-sharing, which is expected to account for roughly $20 million per year. However, this figure could potentially increase annually depending on more profitable television deals.

The decision on how each school allocates their $20 million budget each year, including how much is used to pay players, which players are paid, and how much they receive, is left to the discretion of the individual institutions.

The new revenue-sharing model won’t impact current name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals, which have revolutionized college sports since they were introduced a few years ago.

NIL deals enable players to earn money through endorsements, social media, and other business ventures. Some of these deals have even transformed young teenagers into millionaires before they’ve entered the professional game.

Fortunately for students, NIL deals are here to stay. However, the NCAA settlement includes a reporting requirement where athletes must disclose third-party NIL deals that aren’t part of the revenue-sharing allotment they receive.

NIL deals could potentially allow schools to pay more than the $20 million they can distribute to players, although it’s been reported that the NCAA plans to monitor this in the future.

Some of the funds schools will use to compensate their student athletes will come from ever-increasing TV rights packages, particularly for events like the College Football Playoff and March Madness.

Some schools are also raising costs to fans through “talent fees”, “concession price hikes”, and “athletic fees” added to tuition costs, providing another income source for them to distribute.

College football and college basketball are the two highest-earning sports, with top quarterbacks reportedly earning around $2m a year, which would consume about 10 per cent of a typical school’s NIL budget for all its athletes.

Regarding the NCAA payout to former athletes who competed between 2016-2024, this will only be accessible to those who were either fully or partially excluded from those payments under previous NCAA regulations.

The post Fisk University gymnastics program set to end next year appeared first on ClutchPoints.

Fisk University, home to the first-ever HBCU gymnastics program, has announced plans to discontinue the program in 2026. The news comes after an email was sent to students on Friday afternoon and confirmed by former Fisk University gymnast Naimah Muhammad.

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The decision to discontinue the program stems from challenges in aligning it with the athletics structure. Since gymnastics is not a sanctioned sport within the HBCU Athletic Conference (HBCUAC), scheduling and recruiting have become increasingly difficult. Gymnastics is not a sport sponsored by the HBCUAC, which has required Fisk’s gymnastics program to independently finance parts of the program without formal support from the conference.

“While we are tremendously proud of the history our gymnastics team has made in just three years, we look forward to focusing on our conference-affiliated teams to strengthen our impact in the HBCU Athletic Conference,” said Fisk Director of Athletics Valencia Jordan. “Fisk is grateful for the hard work, dedication, and tenacity of its gymnasts, staff members, and coaches who made this program possible.”

In the three years since its inception, Fisk University has made history on multiple occasions. In February, Fisk gymnastics made history by defeating Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) and the University of Bridgeport in the same meet. This landmark victory marked the Bulldogs as the first HBCU gymnastics team to win against both an NCAA Division I and Division II team in a single competition.

Fisk University gymnasts like Muhammad and Morgan Price, who transferred to Arkansas in May, emerged as HBCU sports stars. Price made history as a pioneer in the sport of HBCU gymnastics. Price became the first gymnast from an HBCU to win the 2024 USA Collegiate National Title in West Chester, Pennsylvania, last season. Additionally, Kyrstin Johnson, a former gymnast from Talladega University, became the first HBCU gymnast to win a gold medal after winning the vault and placing third in the same all-around competition.

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Meanwhile, Muhammad made history as the first HBCU gymnast to compete at the NCAA, leading off the inaugural team on Floor at the Super 16 in Las Vegas on January 6, 2023, where she scored a 9.6.

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The world of college athletics is entering a new era.

On Friday night, Judge Claudia Wilken approved the House settlement in the U.S. Northern District of California, ushering in revenue-sharing for the first time in NCAA history. Beginning July 1, Division I schools will be allowed to share $20.5 million directly with athletes, an amount that will increase annually.

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Schools have been preparing for this moment for months while awaiting the decision. OU athletic director Joe Castiglione, who confirmed in a December email to fans the program planned to share the maximum allowable revenues with their athletes, wrote Saturday he sees this new era as an “unprecedented opportunity” for his athletic department.

“The approval of the House settlement brings clarity to the future of college athletics,” Castiglione wrote Saturday on X. “But it also offers unprecedented opportunity for (OU athletics) to excel as never before.

“We’ve prepared for this day, and now that it’s here we’re ready to share revenue at the maximum allowable amount and add scholarships to create financial certainty for our student-athletes.”

Most FBS athletic departments plan to allocate roughly 75% of revenue-sharing to football ($15 million), 15-20% to men’s basketball, 5-10% to women’s basketball and the rest for other non-revenue generating sports.

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OU exceeded $200 million in revenue for the first time in the 2024 fiscal year, according to the annual financial report the school filed with the NCAA in mid-January. The department also set a fundraising record for the second time in three years last year. The Sooners received a record $110.3 million in total donations and pledges during the 2023-24 fiscal year, surpassing the $109 million raised during the 2022 fiscal year.

More: What does the NCAA settlement mean for college sports? We answer the burning questions

Castiglione has taken numerous steps over the past year to ready his athletic department for revenue-sharing. He has partnered with former AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, who serves as executive adviser to the president and athletic director, to “help guide us into restructuring our budget for this new world of college sports and into developing a football structure with elements similar to professional sports teams.”

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Last July, the Sooners announced a new structure for football recruiting operations, partnering with former Philadelphia Eagles vice president of football administration Jake Rosenberg. Stephenson and Rosenberg were influential in hiring OU general manager Jim Nagy, who has gotten busy building out an NFL-type front office for the Sooners’ football program.

OU also hired NBA star Trae Young as its men’s basketball assistant general manager. In the role, Young will “lend support in OU player personnel and strategic roster management planning, and will serve a critical role in helping build student-athletes’ brands and maximizing their potential,” according to the school. Young will also be “assisting with the evaluation of high school and transfer portal prospects, as well as helping negotiate player contracts,” per the school’s release.

Castiglione has said previously the school remains committed to all 21 sports. Cutting sports is one of many concerns for some following the settlement approval for those involved in college athletics.

However, due to the unprecedented changes, OU athletics is laying off 5% of its full-time employees, the school confirmed May 25 to The Oklahoman.

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“OU student-athletes will continue to benefit from creative NIL partnerships worthy of their value and the enthusiasm they inspire in our fans,” Castiglione continued Saturday on X. “Amid all the change we see, our commitment to OU’s tradition of excellence remains steadfast.”

Colton Sulley covers the Oklahoma Sooners for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Colton? He can be reached at csulley@oklahoman.com or on X/Twitter at @colton_sulley. Support Colton’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Joe Castiglione calls NCAA settlement an ‘unprecedented opportunity’

A new era in collegiate sports has officially arrived.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken approved a 10-year, $2.8 billion settlement to the House vs. NCAA lawsuit originally filed in 2020 by Arizona State swimmer Grant House and TCU basketball player Sedona Prince.

Wilken’s ruling came after extensive litigation and discussion over a multi-year period.

Across the country, athletic directors, including Pitt’s Allen Greene, have been bracing for the ruling and working to prepare for its short- and long-term implications.

During an appearance Saturday morning on 93.7 FM, Greene painted an optimistic picture about how Pitt is positioned to meet the moment.

“No. 1, Pitt Athletics is definitely ready for this and big kudos to the team and to our university administration,” he said. “One of the things that is a huge benefit to us here at Pitt is the alignment between our board chair, our chancellor, myself and our team and our chancellor’s team.

“We’ve been able to have very transparent conversations about how we are preparing for the eventual approval of this settlement. … We’ve been strategizing for six months and even beyond. But really robustly over the last six months. I couldn’t be more proud of the team for helping put us in a very strong position moving forward.”

The seismic components of the settlement that’ll usher in massive changes to Division I college sports center around direct name, image and likeness (NIL) revenue-sharing with players starting July 1 ($20.5 million per academic year in Year 1) and $2.8 billion in NIL back payments over a 10-year span to athletes who competed at any point from 2016-2024.

Additionally, roster limits will come into play, in contrast to the per-sport scholarship limitations historically utilized by the NCAA.

The $20.5 million approved for distribution to players in 2025-26 is set to increase every year during the 10-year agreement.

For Greene — who took the helm of Pitt athletics in mid-October last year when Heather Lyke was fired after more than eight years on the job — positioning the school for the impending settlement has been a major focus.

“We were anticipating the House settlement being approved at some point in time, and we took measures from the get-go to really evaluate our investments and where we were investing,” he said. “We’ve redistributed our resources to help make sure that we are in best position for future success. Sometimes, we have to look at things a little bit differently, we may have to have had to make some unconventional decisions, but every school is facing the same battle.

“It doesn’t matter what Power Four league you’re in, doesn’t matter if you’re in the Big East or not, but if you’re going to participate in a revenue share, $20.5 (million) doesn’t just grow on a tree right outside people’s offices. We have to be very strategic with how we’re redirecting our resources to have the greatest impact.”

In the immediate aftermath of Friday’s landmark ruling, plenty of questions still remain regarding the landscape of college sports.

How harmonious an environment will exist between the still-permitted booster-backed collectives, original distributors of NIL payments beginning in 2021, and athletic departments that are now cutting checks to players?

How will Title IX concerns be addressed if and when football and men’s basketball, the two most profitable collegiate sports, absorb the lion’s share of a school’s annual revenue-sharing budget?

Will the rich get richer, whereas programs such as Pitt struggle to keep up?

And how about overall enforcement of these massive changes, to be handled by the newly announced College Sports Commission?

No one can answer those questions at the moment.

But Greene is confident about Pitt’s ability to thrive in this challenging and uncharted new era.

“We want to have a championship-caliber program,” Greene said. “I would not be at Pitt if I didn’t think that was possible here. We’re not going to have the most money — that’s part of who we are. But we may have the most grit. We’ve got to figure out how we are going to leverage all that is uniquely Pitt and use that to our advantage. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. We’re going to find a way to win at Pitt.”

Washington Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery officially won the Jack Adams Award on Saturday, handed out by the NHL to that season’s best head coach. Carbery was seen as the overwhelming favorite to win the award early in the 2024-25 campaign after Washington had an outstanding start.