This could be the week NCAA goes from amateur to pro

“The traditional model of using high-revenue sports like football to subsidize other non-revenue sports may not be sustainable,” Pham said. “What I anticipate is more schools are going to explore private fundraising partnerships and creative revenue models. Some schools may ultimately cut programs, but others may be inclined to become more innovative.”

The payout formula puts football and men’s basketball players above other college athletes. I wouldn’t be surprised to see second- and third-string football players making tens of thousands of dollars, while top athletes in other sports get hundreds or a few thousand.

I reached out to the University of Minnesota a few weeks ago to get a feel for their planning. A spokesman said they would know more after the House settlement was finalized in court. Details were still being negotiated late last week.

Meanwhile, since far more money will be available to college athletes, the stakes will rise on athletes in junior highs and high schools to perform well and qualify for top-level university programs.

“You do fear that kids and parents are going to have a false hope of the money that will be there, and they will lose perspective that the benefit of sports is about playing the sport,” Campion said.

Two forces lie underneath all this. The first is that sports represent the last way for advertisers to reach mass audiences. All forms of entertainment, including sports, have exploded in variety and means to reach people. In that growth, however, they have become more diffuse, reaching fewer people. However, the most popular sports attract the largest audiences on a relative basis.