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A $2.8 billion settlement will change college sports forever. Here’s how

Associated Press A federal judge has approved terms of a sprawling $2.8 billion antitrust settlement that will upend the way college sports have been run for more than a century. In short, schools can now directly pay players through licensing deals — a concept that goes against the foundation of amateurism that college sports was […]

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Associated Press

A federal judge has approved terms of a sprawling $2.8 billion antitrust settlement that will upend the way college sports have been run for more than a century. In short, schools can now directly pay players through licensing deals — a concept that goes against the foundation of amateurism that college sports was built upon.

Some questions and answers about this monumental change for college athletics:

Q: What is the House settlement and why does it matter?

A: Grant House is a former Arizona State swimmer who sued the defendants (the NCAA and the five biggest athletic conferences in the nation). His lawsuit and two others were combined and over several years the dispute wound up with the settlement that ends a decades-old prohibition on schools cutting checks directly to athletes. Now, each school will be able to make payments to athletes for use of their name, image and likeness (NIL). For reference, there are nearly 200,000 athletes and 350 schools in Division I alone and 500,000 and 1,100 schools across the entire NCAA.

Q: How much will the schools pay the athletes and where will the money come from?

A: In Year 1, each school can share up to about $20.5 million with their athletes, a number that represents 22% of their revenue from things like media rights, ticket sales and sponsorships. Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne famously told Congress “those are resources and revenues that don’t exist.” Some of the money will come via ever-growing TV rights packages, especially for the College Football Playoff. But some schools are increasing costs to fans through “talent fees,” concession price hikes and “athletic fees” added to tuition costs.

Q: What about scholarships? Wasn’t that like paying the athletes?

A: Scholarships and “cost of attendance” have always been part of the deal for many Division I athletes and there is certainly value to that, especially if athletes get their degree. The NCAA says its member schools hand out nearly $4 billion in athletic scholarships every year. But athletes have long argued that it was hardly enough to compensate them for the millions in revenue they helped produce for the schools, which went to a lot of places, including multimillion-dollar coaches’ salaries. They took those arguments to court and won.

Q: Haven’t players been getting paid for a while now?

A: Yes, since 2021. Facing losses in court and a growing number of state laws targeting its amateurism policies, the NCAA cleared the way for athletes to receive NIL money from third parties, including so-called donor-backed collectives that support various schools. Under House, the school can pay that money directly to athletes and the collectives are still in the game.

Q: But will $20.5 million cover all the costs for the athletes?

A: Probably not. But under terms of the settlement, third parties are still allowed to cut deals with the players. Some call it a workaround, but most simply view this as the new reality in college sports as schools fight to land top talent and then keep them on campus. Top quarterbacks are reportedly getting paid around $2 million a year, which would eat up about 10% of a typical school’s NIL budget for all its athletes.

Q: Are there any rules or is it a free-for-all?

A: The defendant conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and Pac-12) are creating an enforcement arm that is essentially taking over for the NCAA, which used to police recruiting violations and the like. Among this new entity’s biggest functions is to analyze third-party deals worth $600 or more to make sure they are paying players an appropriate “market value” for the services being provided. The so-called College Sports Commission promises to be quicker and more efficient than the NCAA. Schools are being asked to sign a contract saying they will abide by the rules of this new structure, even if it means going against laws passed in their individual states.

Q: What about players who played before NIL was allowed?

A: A key component of the settlement is the $2.7 billion in back pay going to athletes who competed between 2016-24 and were either fully or partially shut out from those payments under previous NCAA rules. That money will come from the NCAA and its conferences (but really from the schools, who will receive lower-than-normal payouts from things like March Madness).

Q: Who will get most of the money?

A: Because football and men’s basketball are the primary revenue drivers at most schools, and that money helps fund all the other sports, it stands to reason that the football and basketball players will get most of the money. But that is one of the most difficult calculations for the schools to make. There could be Title IX equity concerns as well.

Q: What about all the swimmers, gymnasts and other Olympic sports athletes?

A: The settlement calls for roster limits that will reduce the number of players on all teams while making all of those players — not just a portion — eligible for full scholarships. This figures to have an outsize impact on Olympic-sport athletes, whose scholarships cost as much as that of a football player but whose sports don’t produce revenue. There are concerns that the pipeline of college talent for Team USA will take a hit.

Q: So, once this is finished, all of college sports’ problems are solved, right?

A: The new enforcement arm seems ripe for litigation. There are also the issues of collective bargaining and whether athletes should flat-out be considered employees, a notion the NCAA and schools are generally not interested in, despite Tennessee athletic director Danny White’s suggestion that collective bargaining is a potential solution to a lot of headaches. NCAA President Charlie Baker has been pushing Congress for a limited antitrust exemption that would protect college sports from another series of lawsuits, but so far nothing has emerged from Capitol Hill.

___

AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports




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College sports has a soft salary cap now. How does it work?

FILE – The national office of the NCAA in Indianapolis is shown on March 12, 2020. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File) AP College sports has another before and after date. Before July 1, 2025 — last Tuesday — athletes could make money off their name, image and likeness (NIL) but not be paid directly by their […]

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FILE – The national office of the NCAA in Indianapolis is shown on March 12, 2020. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)
AP

College sports has another before and after date.

Before July 1, 2025 — last Tuesday — athletes could make money off their name, image and likeness (NIL) but not be paid directly by their schools. And after July 1, that has changed, making college sports look and feel even more like the pros.

Some of the long-standing differences and caveats still apply. College athletes are not considered employees. Therefore, unlike athletes in the NFL, the NBA, the WNBA, the NHL and MLB, their pay and working conditions were not established through a collective bargaining process. But at least one major change will be familiar to any fan of those professional leagues.

College sports has a (soft) salary cap now. Let’s unpack.

How did this come about?

At the most practical level, the soft salary cap (or revenue sharing cap) is part of the massive legal settlement approved in early June. Commonly referred to as the House settlement, it consolidated three antitrust cases, all of them challenging past restrictions of college athlete compensation. And in that process, the defendants — the NCAA and the power conferences — agreed to allow schools to share revenue with (or pay) athletes directly for the first time. That officially started Tuesday.

Lawyers for the defendants and plaintiffs settled on an initial annual cap of $20.5 million per school. That is for athletes across sports, though a bulk of the money will go to salaries for football and men’s basketball players. Not every school will spend to the cap, though many power conference programs will. More than 300 Division I schools have opted into the new economic model, meaning they can pay athletes — up to that cap — but also have to abide by new roster limits in each sport. Schools that chose not to opt in are not allowed to pay athletes through revenue sharing. For now, this cap explainer is not relevant to them.

Why $20.5 million?

The starting cap was calculated by taking 22% of the average athletic revenue for power conference schools. In this case, the figures were from the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years. Importantly, only a specific set of revenue streams was considered, which has the attention of the plaintiffs’ attorneys for House. Each year, the settlement will require the NCAA to share the data used to calculate the cap with the plaintiffs’ attorneys. From there, the settlement permits the attorneys to “reasonably audit” the data — and this week, Steve Berman, one of the lead attorneys, told USA Today they are doing just that. In question is whether certain revenue streams were not counted and should be, which could increase the initial number.

Berman told USA Today that he is fine with going ahead with $20.5 million for 2025-26. But if the number were recalculated in an auditing process …

That would be significant. Why?

Great question. Perfect time to ask.

The settlement is a 10-year agreement. The cap will rise and recalculate throughout that span. There will be a 4% bump before the second, third, fifth, sixth, eighth and ninth years. There will be a recalculation, using that same 22% formula, before the fourth, seventh and 10th years. So if the baseline changed because of an immediate audit of the $20.5 million figure, there could be a trickle-down (or trickle-up?) effect on the initial annual increases.

What counts as spending toward the cap?

Three streams: revenue-sharing money paid to athletes, which will essentially function as salaries; scholarship spending above previous NCAA limits; and other education-related payments, known as Alston money.

Alston money can account for up to $2.5 million per year toward the cap. Same with scholarship spending, though that part is a bit trickier to explain. The settlement permits schools to pay an uncapped amount of scholarship money to a fixed number of athletes across sports. Or in other words: Previous limits on scholarship spending have been replaced by new roster limits, meaning more money distributed to fewer athletes. A football team, for example, can carry a maximum of 105 players and offer 105 full scholarships, if it so chooses. But as far as the $20.5 million cap is concerned, only scholarship money spent above previous NCAA limits — and only up to $2.5 million per year — will count toward it. Confused? Welcome to the life of a longtime college compliance staffer.

Why have you repeatedly referred to this as a soft cap?

Another great question.

Until this point — before July 1, 2025 — boosters funded five-, six- and seven-figure salaries in football, men’s basketball and, to a lesser extent, women’s basketball and other sports. With rules established by the settlement, the NCAA and the power conferences hope to change that. Any NIL deal that exceeds $600 will have to go through a clearinghouse, which will trigger a review of who is paying and what services they will receive from the athlete, among other factors. The hope, for the leaders of college sports, is to eliminate situations in which an athlete receives $500,000 for a few social media posts.

At the highest levels of the biggest sports, those deals have fueled the NIL economy for the past four years. Donor groups, known as NIL collectives, typically have brokered them. Many legal experts are skeptical that the enforcement efforts would hold up against more antitrust suits.

And throughout the history of college sports, there’s at least one certainty: Motivated rich people will find a way to help their teams win. For that reason — that donors and NIL collectives will help schools spend above the $20.5 million barrier — it feels most responsible to call it a soft cap. The whole system could put at least some athlete payments back under the table, such as when they used to be delivered in McDonald’s bags before the NCAA changed its NIL rules in 2021. Plus, beyond donor money, schools and collectives can still help athletes land brand deals to enhance their income.

At the top of college football and basketball, spending from the revenue-sharing pool will be viewed as a baseline. It will, as ever, take a lot more money to thrive.

FILE – In this photo taken with a slow shutter speed, Wichita State’s Ron Baker runs during practice for the NCAA college basketball tournament, March 20, 2014, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, file)
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A Candid Conversation with The Most Interesting Man in the SEC

Shiyazh Pete was a coveted offensive tackle in the transfer portal. His decision to commit to Kentucky on the final day of the winter transfer window was met with fanfare. When Pete first arrived in Lexington, we quickly learned there’s much more to the man behind the facemask. A giant among giants, Pete towers over […]

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Shiyazh Pete was a coveted offensive tackle in the transfer portal. His decision to commit to Kentucky on the final day of the winter transfer window was met with fanfare. When Pete first arrived in Lexington, we quickly learned there’s much more to the man behind the facemask.

A giant among giants, Pete towers over his peers at 6-foot-8, 322 pounds. It’s not the only thing that sets him apart.

In the spring, the Kentucky newcomers were introduced to the media. Pete’s prose is unlike his predecessors. That was clear when he was asked about his offensive line coach, Eric Wolford.

“He lives up to his name, the Wolf,” said Pete. “He’s cunning, he’s keen, he’s pretty sharp. I like that about him.”

My first thought after hearing that: “I need to spend more time talking to that guy?” That’s exactly what Kentucky Sports Radio did ahead of the July Fourth holiday weekend.

Pete has impressive credentials as an All-Conference left tackle for a 10-win team at New Mexico State, arguably the best in that program’s history. While most fans will be focused on how well he stacks up against SEC opponents, that’s just a fraction of what he’s bringing to the Big Blue Wall.

He grew up as a self-proclaimed nerd in Montana. The son of a Captain in the U.S. Army, he spent his formative years living in the Navajo Nation. He is Diné, which translates to “the people.” Pete proudly wears his braid while adding new hobbies. Pete can quickly complete a Rubik’s Cube and dabbles in the didgeridoo. This curious cat learns new about new topics, typically by watching a movie, then dives in headfirst. That is why we spent five minutes talking about Napoleon Bonaparte.

Pete went from playing on a high school football team with 11 players to one of the worst programs in the FBS, one that eventually played the role of David and slayed Goliath at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Ahead of his final college football season, he’s grateful for the opportunity to showcase his skills in the SEC. What does he envision in his final college football performance?

“Napoleon.”

Enjoy this candid conversation before Shiyazh Pete conquers the SEC at Kentucky.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QclpYI1ivz4

More Kentucky News and Views on the KSR YouTube Channel

Kentucky Sports Radio has expanded its coverage of the Wildcats in the most ridiculous manner possible on our YouTube Channel. Here you will be able to find interviews with coaches and players, as well as commentary from the KSR crew. From Rapid Reactions following big events to our lengthy lineup of live shows, subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel to stay up to date on everything happening around the Big Blue Nation.



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Texas Tech Lands 5-Star Felix Ojo With $5.1M NIL Deal, Beating Out Texas, Ohio State

Texas Tech secured five-star offensive tackle Felix Ojo on July 4 with a record-breaking $5.1 million NIL contract that made headlines across college football. The Red Raiders pulled off one of the biggest recruiting coups in program history by landing the nation’s No. 5 overall prospect and top offensive tackle, defeating powerhouse programs including Texas, […]

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Texas Tech secured five-star offensive tackle Felix Ojo on July 4 with a record-breaking $5.1 million NIL contract that made headlines across college football.

The Red Raiders pulled off one of the biggest recruiting coups in program history by landing the nation’s No. 5 overall prospect and top offensive tackle, defeating powerhouse programs including Texas, Ohio State, Michigan, and Florida.

PFSN College Football Playoff Predictor
Dive into Try out PFSN’s FREE college football playoff predictor, where you can simulate every 2025-26 NFL season game and see who wins the National Championship!

Texas Tech Lands Five-Star Recruit with Record NIL Deal

Social media exploded when On3 Sports broke the news on Twitter, announcing that the 6’7″, 285-pound tackle from Mansfield Lake Ridge High School had inked the largest fully guaranteed NIL revenue-share agreement in college football history.

According to his agent, the three-year deal worth $5.1 million features a significant escalator structure. Year one pays $1.2 million, year two reaches $1.6 million, and year three peaks at $2.1 million. This groundbreaking contract came just days after the federal settlement legalizing direct revenue-share payments took effect on July 1.

The timing proves crucial for Texas Tech’s aggressive NIL strategy, which already paid dividends after the program invested over $10 million in transfer portal additions in early 2025. The Matador Club’s willingness to offer seven-figure deals across multiple sports established the Red Raiders as serious players in the new NIL landscape.

Historic Commitment Transforms Red Raiders Recruiting

Ojo’s commitment represented a massive upset as he selected Texas Tech over his final four schools. The Longhorns and Buckeyes were considered co-favorites throughout the process, making his decision even more surprising for college football analysts.

The elite prospect ranks as the No. 5 overall player in the 2026 class according to 247Sports Composite, while ESPN rates him No. 4 in their ESPN 300. His commitment makes him the highest-rated signee in Texas Tech program history, surpassing previous recruiting milestones for the Big 12 program.

Ojo’s addition transforms the Red Raiders’ 2026 recruiting class, with the latest available rankings showing a major jump but not universally to 23rd nationally or 1st in the Big 12. Some sources have Texas Tech ranked as high as 23rd and 1st in the Big 12, while others show a current rank of 29th nationally and 1st in the Big 12. The class average rating improvement reflects the significant talent upgrade that comes with landing a five-star prospect.

Beyond recruiting rankings, the impact extends to on-field performance expectations. Research shows each five-star recruit contributes approximately 0.306 additional wins per season, making Ojo’s presence valuable for Texas Tech’s competitive outlook. His position at left tackle will dramatically improve pass protection and create better opportunities for the running game under Coach Joey McGuire’s offensive system.

The signing establishes Texas Tech’s commitment to competing at the highest level in college football while setting new benchmarks for NIL deals across the sport. College football programs nationwide are watching how this unprecedented contract structure influences future recruiting battles and player compensation models.

Ojo is expected to arrive on campus in the summer of 2026 and immediately compete for a starting role on the offensive line. His presence should provide immediate impact for a program looking to establish itself as a consistent Big 12 contender under McGuire’s leadership.





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Mansfield (TX) Lake Ridge five-star offensive tackle Felix Ojo, one of the top prospects in 2026, made a Fourth of July commitment to Texas Tech. The Red Raiders will now be paying him quite well with an unprecendented, fully guaranteed revenue-sharing deal. Ojo committed to Texas Tech this afternoon over top schools like Texas, Oklahoma, Michigan, Ohio […]

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Report

Mansfield (TX) Lake Ridge five-star offensive tackle Felix Ojo, one of the top prospects in 2026, made a Fourth of July commitment to Texas Tech. The Red Raiders will now be paying him quite well with an unprecendented, fully guaranteed revenue-sharing deal.

Ojo committed to Texas Tech this afternoon over top schools like Texas, Oklahoma, Michigan, Ohio State, and Ole Miss. ESPN’s Eli Lederman reported that the Red Raiders signed Ojo to a fully guaranteed revenue-share deal worth $5.1 million over three years. On3’s Pete Nakos reported more details of the agreement.

Ojo’s guaranteed rev-share amount is roughly half the $5.1 million, according to Nakos, and the contract pays out $775,000 per year over three years. Including incentives and if the deal is renegotiated, the five-star offensive lineman is set to earn $1.2 million in Year 1, $1.6 million in Year 2 and $2.1 million in Year 3. Nakos added Texas Tech softball helped pull the deal off.

This comes a few days after the House v. NCAA settlement took effect around college athletics. Judge Claudia Wilken approved the settlement back on June 6th after nearly five years since the filing of House v. NCAA. That allowed for revenue-sharing, with schools paying athletes directly, beginning earlier this week on July 1st.

Ojo ranks as the No. 6 overall recruit as a five-star prospect in the 2026 cycle. He also rates as the No. 3 OT in the class, behind Jackson Cantwell (No. 1 – Miami) and Immanuel Iheanacho (No. 4 – Oregon). He is also the No. 1 player in the state of Texas, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. Following his July 4th commitment, Ojo becomes Texas Tech’s highest-rated commitment of all time as part of what’s shaping out to be a Top-25 class for the Red Raiders in 2026.

This comes after the spring where Texas Tech became a national player in the NIL and transfer portal landscape. The Red Raiders are coming off of an 8-5 2024 season in Year 3 for head coach Joey McGuire, who signed the No. 1 class in the NCAA Transfer Portal, according to On3. Eight of their 21 portal additions this offseason ranked in the Top-100 of On3’s 2025 Top Transfer Portal Players. Expectations are now becoming more real for the program down in the Big 12, especially if they can capitalize on this season after recruiting success both in the portal and in high school.

For today, though, Texas Tech can enjoy what is the commitment of their highest-ranked recruit in school history. Ojo can celebrate as well with his recruitment ending in what’s reportedly a very large, guaranteed deal for him ahead of his collegiate career in Lubbock.

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Texas Tech Signs 5-Star Felix Ojo in $5M NIL Deal

Share Tweet Share Share Email Felix Ojo, a consensus five-star offensive tackle ranked among the top prospects nationally in the 2026 class, committed to Texas Tech on July 4th over heavyweights like Texas, Ohio State, Florida, and Michigan. The standout from Mansfield, Texas, has reportedly landed a fully guaranteed revenue-sharing contract valued at $5.1 million […]

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STUNNER

Texas Tech secured five-star offensive tackle Felix Ojo on July 4 with a record-breaking $5.1 million NIL contract that made headlines across college football. The Red Raiders pulled off one of the biggest recruiting coups in program history by landing the nation’s No. 5 overall prospect and top offensive tackle, defeating powerhouse programs including Texas, […]

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STUNNER

Texas Tech secured five-star offensive tackle Felix Ojo on July 4 with a record-breaking $5.1 million NIL contract that made headlines across college football.

The Red Raiders pulled off one of the biggest recruiting coups in program history by landing the nation’s No. 5 overall prospect and top offensive tackle, defeating powerhouse programs including Texas, Ohio State, Michigan, and Florida.

PFSN College Football Playoff Predictor
Dive into Try out PFSN’s FREE college football playoff predictor, where you can simulate every 2025-26 NFL season game and see who wins the National Championship!

Texas Tech Lands Five-Star Recruit with Record NIL Deal

Social media exploded when On3 Sports broke the news on Twitter, announcing that the 6’7″, 285-pound tackle from Mansfield Lake Ridge High School had inked the largest fully guaranteed NIL revenue-share agreement in college football history.

According to his agent, the three-year deal worth $5.1 million features a significant escalator structure. Year one pays $1.2 million, year two reaches $1.6 million, and year three peaks at $2.1 million. This groundbreaking contract came just days after the federal settlement legalizing direct revenue-share payments took effect on July 1.

The timing proves crucial for Texas Tech’s aggressive NIL strategy, which already paid dividends after the program invested over $10 million in transfer portal additions in early 2025. The Matador Club’s willingness to offer seven-figure deals across multiple sports established the Red Raiders as serious players in the new NIL landscape.

Historic Commitment Transforms Red Raiders Recruiting

Ojo’s commitment represented a massive upset as he selected Texas Tech over his final four schools. The Longhorns and Buckeyes were considered co-favorites throughout the process, making his decision even more surprising for college football analysts.

The elite prospect ranks as the No. 5 overall player in the 2026 class according to 247Sports Composite, while ESPN rates him No. 4 in their ESPN 300. His commitment makes him the highest-rated signee in Texas Tech program history, surpassing previous recruiting milestones for the Big 12 program.

Ojo’s addition transforms the Red Raiders’ 2026 recruiting class, with the latest available rankings showing a major jump but not universally to 23rd nationally or 1st in the Big 12. Some sources have Texas Tech ranked as high as 23rd and 1st in the Big 12, while others show a current rank of 29th nationally and 1st in the Big 12. The class average rating improvement reflects the significant talent upgrade that comes with landing a five-star prospect.

Beyond recruiting rankings, the impact extends to on-field performance expectations. Research shows each five-star recruit contributes approximately 0.306 additional wins per season, making Ojo’s presence valuable for Texas Tech’s competitive outlook. His position at left tackle will dramatically improve pass protection and create better opportunities for the running game under Coach Joey McGuire’s offensive system.

The signing establishes Texas Tech’s commitment to competing at the highest level in college football while setting new benchmarks for NIL deals across the sport. College football programs nationwide are watching how this unprecedented contract structure influences future recruiting battles and player compensation models.

Ojo is expected to arrive on campus in the summer of 2026 and immediately compete for a starting role on the offensive line. His presence should provide immediate impact for a program looking to establish itself as a consistent Big 12 contender under McGuire’s leadership.

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