College Sports

“I think it’s in some ways relief that it’s here, that we can move forward, that we can meet this moment.”

By Amin Touri, The Boston Globe

June 11, 2025 | 9:12 AM

5 minutes to read

After more than a decade of creeping change and shifting winds in college sports, the biggest reshaping of the landscape arrived Friday.

Federal judge Claudia Wilken signed off on a settlement resolving three antitrust compensation cases brought against the NCAA. Now, schools will be allowed to pay athletes directly — rather than under the guise of name, image, and likeness (NIL) — as soon as next month.

Along with schools gaining the ability to share up to $20.5 million with athletes per year, the NCAA is on the hook for nearly $2.8 billion in back pay to former athletes — long barred from compensation for their athletic performance — over the next 10 years.

The football powerhouses in the Big Ten and SEC — and their massive television deals — have prompted much of the seismic shift in college athletics that resulted in this settlement. But the changes are felt throughout the NCAA, including in Massachusetts.

It’s particularly significant for Boston College and UMass, the state’s two institutions that compete in FBS, the highest level of college football, each of which has spent several months preparing for sweeping change after the deal was initially approved in October before a lengthy hold-up.

“It’s been a little bit of what we would call, ‘Hurry up and wait,’ ” said UMass athletic director Ryan Bamford. “I think it’s in some ways relief that it’s here, that we can move forward, that we can meet this moment.”

While athletes will still be able to earn money through the NIL deals that have taken over collegiate athletics, the ability to pay athletes directly is a monumental shift.

How universities will handle payments is the first question on the agenda, particularly at the state’s flagship university, which has to contend with the added wrinkle of public funding and the scrutiny that comes with it.

“You’re building the systems, the policies, the procedures, working with campus infrastructure,” Bamford said. “Our student-athletes aren’t employees, so they don’t fit into the HR model. You can’t pay through financial aid, because — you can pay scholarships and room and board and tuition and fees and things like that — but anything that’s rev share is above and beyond. So you’ve got to get the tax people, the Treasury people, the general counsel, to look at your agreement.“

While college football’s powerhouses are certain to max out the $20.5 million they can dole out to athletes, that likely won’t be the case at UMass — that number would represent close to 40 percent of the total operating budget of an athletic department such as UMass’s.

Boston College athletic director Blake James wouldn’t get into specifics on how much the school expects to be paying athletes for the 2025-26 academic year, saying “it’s too early to really know,” while confirming BC’s participation in revenue sharing.

UMass, meanwhile, will be looking to spend between $6 million and $8 million in the first year and in the $10 million-$12 million range in the second, with the long-term goal to be spending around 60 percent of the cap.

“If we’re at 60 percent of whatever [the cap] continues to grow to, we’re probably in a really good, healthy Group of Five position,” Bamford said. “The MAC is not going to spend a ton of money, but we want to be where maybe some of the lower Big East, lower Power Fours are in basketball, and then in football.

“We want to be competitive with the Group of Five. I think we can be in the top, probably, 20 percent of the Group of Five in football with our number. So, you know, that’s certainly a goal.”

Another question is how schools will divide the money within their own department, with a lion’s share of the cash at FBS schools likely heading into football pockets. That’s an especially unique challenge at BC, which has to compete against some of college football’s best in the ACC, while its greatest success has come not on the field but on the ice.

The men’s hockey team boasts five national championships and reached the national title game again in 2024, while the women have made six Frozen Fours since 2010.

“We’re the only team in the ACC that has ice hockey,” James said. “So we’re going to continue to evolve under this new college athletics approach consistent with who we are as an institution, and part of that is recognizing the importance that ice hockey means to us at Boston College and as part of our athletic program.”

It’s possible the new rules could provide an opportunity to BC’s city rivals on the ice at Boston University and Northeastern — neither of which has a football team to fund — to gain some ground. The fourth member of the Beanpot quartet, Harvard, could be looking at a further slip among its rivals, as the Ivy League has opted out of revenue sharing, which Harvard confirmed to the Globe this week.

UMass, another Hockey East competitor, with its most recent national relevance coming through men’s hockey (a Frozen Four in 2019 and a national championship in 2021), will also skew more of its money toward hockey and what arguably remains the Minutemen’s biggest brand, men’s basketball.

The most common formula thrown around in recent months has been that schools will look to use around 75 percent of the money on football, 15 percent on men’s basketball, 5 percent on women’s basketball, and the remaining 5 percent elsewhere.

UMass, Bamford said, won’t be that high in football, with greater slices of the pie given to men’s and women’s basketball, as well as hockey.

“Over time, it’ll sort itself out,” Bamford said. “When you make the jump, the formula and the ratios and the percentages are a little bit skewed. But for instance, we’re going to fund, probably $2.5 million on our women’s sports just in scholarships alone.

”We’ve kind of let each coach determine how they want to do it and based on the budget. And I think our coaches are feeling like in talking to their peers, especially in the Group of Five, that we’re in a really strong spot.”

There are plenty of concerns to go around, from how new roster limits rules will affect walk-ons to the effects the settlement could have on Olympic sports, where collegiate athletic programs have long produced some of the nation’s best athletes without generating a lot of revenue in return.

For James, whose place as a Power Four AD means competing with the nation’s true powers, the primary concern is how schools are going to toe the line.

“I think my concerns would be … the enforcement,“ he said. “I think if everyone follows the rules of the settlement, I think it will put college athletics into a better place than it’s been in some time. With that said, I think there’s always opportunities for people to work around the intent of what has been put in place, whether it’s through the letter of the rule, or just something that they feel that they have to do in their best interest.

“And I would say that’s my biggest concern: How do we get everyone to support and embrace this and give college athletics a chance to grow in this whole new world?”

The football powerhouses in the Big Ten and SEC — and their massive television deals — have prompted much of the seismic shift in college athletics that resulted in this settlement. But the changes are felt throughout the NCAA, including in Massachusetts.

It’s particularly significant for Boston College and UMass, the state’s two institutions that compete in FBS, the highest level of college football, each of which has spent several months preparing for sweeping change after the deal was initially approved in October before a lengthy hold-up.

“It’s been a little bit of what we would call, ‘Hurry up and wait,’ ” said UMass athletic director Ryan Bamford. “I think it’s in some ways relief that it’s here, that we can move forward, that we can meet this moment.”

While athletes will still be able to earn money through the NIL deals that have taken over collegiate athletics, the ability to pay athletes directly is a monumental shift.

How universities will handle payments is the first question on the agenda, particularly at the state’s flagship university, which has to contend with the added wrinkle of public funding and the scrutiny that comes with it.

“You’re building the systems, the policies, the procedures, working with campus infrastructure,” Bamford said. “Our student-athletes aren’t employees, so they don’t fit into the HR model. You can’t pay through financial aid, because — you can pay scholarships and room and board and tuition and fees and things like that — but anything that’s rev share is above and beyond. So you’ve got to get the tax people, the Treasury people, the general counsel, to look at your agreement.“

While college football’s powerhouses are certain to max out the $20.5 million they can dole out to athletes, that likely won’t be the case at UMass — that number would represent close to 40 percent of the total operating budget of an athletic department such as UMass’s.

Boston College athletic director Blake James wouldn’t get into specifics on how much the school expects to be paying athletes for the 2025-26 academic year, saying “it’s too early to really know,” while confirming BC’s participation in revenue sharing.

UMass, meanwhile, will be looking to spend between $6 million and $8 million in the first year and in the $10 million-$12 million range in the second, with the long-term goal to be spending around 60 percent of the cap.

“If we’re at 60 percent of whatever [the cap] continues to grow to, we’re probably in a really good, healthy Group of Five position,” Bamford said. “The MAC is not going to spend a ton of money, but we want to be where maybe some of the lower Big East, lower Power Fours are in basketball, and then in football.

“We want to be competitive with the Group of Five. I think we can be in the top, probably, 20 percent of the Group of Five in football with our number. So, you know, that’s certainly a goal.”

Another question is how schools will divide the money within their own department, with a lion’s share of the cash at FBS schools likely heading into football pockets. That’s an especially unique challenge at BC, which has to compete against some of college football’s best in the ACC, while its greatest success has come not on the field but on the ice.

The men’s hockey team boasts five national championships and reached the national title game again in 2024, while the women have made six Frozen Fours since 2010.

“We’re the only team in the ACC that has ice hockey,” James said. “So we’re going to continue to evolve under this new college athletics approach consistent with who we are as an institution, and part of that is recognizing the importance that ice hockey means to us at Boston College and as part of our athletic program.”

It’s possible the new rules could provide an opportunity to BC’s city rivals on the ice at Boston University and Northeastern — neither of which has a football team to fund — to gain some ground. The fourth member of the Beanpot quartet, Harvard, could be looking at a further slip among its rivals, as the Ivy League has opted out of revenue sharing, which Harvard confirmed to the Globe this week.

UMass, another Hockey East competitor, with its most recent national relevance coming through men’s hockey (a Frozen Four in 2019 and a national championship in 2021), will also skew more of its money toward hockey and what arguably remains the Minutemen’s biggest brand, men’s basketball.

The most common formula thrown around in recent months has been that schools will look to use around 75 percent of the money on football, 15 percent on men’s basketball, 5 percent on women’s basketball, and the remaining 5 percent elsewhere.

UMass, Bamford said, won’t be that high in football, with greater slices of the pie given to men’s and women’s basketball, as well as hockey.

“Over time, it’ll sort itself out,” Bamford said. “When you make the jump, the formula and the ratios and the percentages are a little bit skewed. But for instance, we’re going to fund, probably $2.5 million on our women’s sports just in scholarships alone.

”We’ve kind of let each coach determine how they want to do it and based on the budget. And I think our coaches are feeling like in talking to their peers, especially in the Group of Five, that we’re in a really strong spot.”

There are plenty of concerns to go around, from how new roster limits rules will affect walk-ons to the effects the settlement could have on Olympic sports, where collegiate athletic programs have long produced some of the nation’s best athletes without generating a lot of revenue in return.

For James, whose place as a Power Four AD means competing with the nation’s true powers, the primary concern is how schools are going to toe the line.

“I think my concerns would be … the enforcement,“ he said. “I think if everyone follows the rules of the settlement, I think it will put college athletics into a better place than it’s been in some time. With that said, I think there’s always opportunities for people to work around the intent of what has been put in place, whether it’s through the letter of the rule, or just something that they feel that they have to do in their best interest.

“And I would say that’s my biggest concern: How do we get everyone to support and embrace this and give college athletics a chance to grow in this whole new world?”

Amin Touri can be reached at amin.touri@globe.com.

Ohio State is officially bringing its NIL collectives in-house.

According to multiple reports, Ohio State’s athletic department is teaming up with Learfield’s Ohio State Sports Properties to form “Buckeye Sports Group,” an initiative designed to support and enhance NIL opportunities for Ohio State athletes.

This news comes on the heels of the House v. NCAA settlement being formally approved, in return, paving the way for schools to now begin paying their athletes millions of dollars as soon as next month. The terms of the 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.

With the creation of the “Buckeye Sports Group,” Ohio State will now consolidate the school’s two existing NIL collectives, the 1870 Society and The Foundation. The partnership with Learfield will allow Buckeye athletes to access the sports marketing companies’ NIL technology, which will in return assist athletes with brand deals, corporate partnerships and personal brand development in a more organized manner.

“Ohio State has always been a leader in college athletics, and this initiative is another step forward to build upon our strong NIL foundation,” Ohio State’s Deputy Director of Athletics Carey Hoyt said in a release, announcing the NIL partnership. “By combining the power of our athletic brand with Learfield’s expansive network, we are creating an innovative, full-service approach to NIL that directly benefits our student-athletes.”

Moving forward, financial agreements reached between athletes and third parties won’t count toward an athletic department’s annual cap, though any deal greater than $600 is now subject to approval by NIL Go, an online clearinghouse within the College Sports Commission, a freshly formed regulatory body created in response to the House v. NCAA lawsuit. 

Ohio State has already been at the forefront when it comes to success in the NIL space. Sophomore wide receiver Jeremiah Smith has a reported NIL valuation of $4.2 million according to On3, which ranks third-highest among all college athletes, and he’s inked notable deals with Nintendo, Red Bull and Lulelemon. Smith was recently unveiled as a co-cover star athlete for “College Football 26.”

Fellow Buckeye football standout Caleb Downs has already had remarkable NIL success as well, carrying an NIL valuation of $2.4 million, which also ranks among the top valuations in college athletics. Downs, who transferred to Ohio State from Alabama following Nick Saban’s retirement in 2024, has partnerships with Panini, Beats by Dre and American Eagle.

“As we enter a new era for college athletics, we’re excited to build on our past successes and create even more meaningful NIL opportunities for Ohio State student-athletes,” Vice President & General Manager of Learfield’s Ohio State Sports Properties Todd Knisley said in the release. “With the strength of Buckeye Nation behind us, we’re able to unlock incremental opportunities for partnerships on a local, regional, and national scale.”

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Featuring a full three-game final for the first time in four years, the NCAA Women’s College World Series hit multiple viewership highs on ESPN.

The three-game Texas-Texas Tech NCAA Women’s College World Series Final averaged 2.2 million viewers across ESPN and ESPNU, the highest average on record for the event and up 13% from the previous high set by last year’s two-game Oklahoma-Texas series.

Friday’s winner-take-all Game 3 averaged 2.41 million viewers, marking the largest college softball audience on record — surpassing the previous mark of 2.33 million for Tennessee-Arizona Game 3 in 2007. All three games of this year’s series rank among the top ten, with Game 2 ranking sixth (2.13M) and Game 1 seventh (2.11M). (Keep in mind out-of-home viewing was not tracked in Nielsen’s estimates prior to 2020.)

Compared to the previous Game 3 — Oklahoma-Florida State in 2021, which aired in a Thursday afternoon window due to rain — viewership jumped 54% from 1.57 million.

Overall, four games of this year’s WCWS rank among the top ten, with a UCLA-Tennessee game on ABC earlier in the tournament placing fifth (2.19M).

Most-Watched Women’s College World Series Games

The full, 15-game WCWS averaged 1.3 million — up 24% from last year and a new record for the event, surpassing the previous high set in 2021. The complete NCAA softball tournament averaged 591,000, up 3% from last year and the highest in four years.

Being the first is one thing. Being the only one is something else, something even more challenging.

Fisk University came to understand that difference in the three years since it launched its women’s gymnastics program, the first at an HBCU. During that time, the GymDogs, as the team was known, produced a bona fide star, gained a measure of pop culture notoriety and added to the school’s trophy case. Administrators, however, also wrestled with the financial realities of the sport and endeavored to find the proper level of competition for a program that was an outlier even within the school’s own athletics department.

Thus, the 2026 season will be the last for Fisk gymnastics.

In a release last Friday, the university noted that “(t)he decision to halt the program comes after a comprehensive review of the gymnastics program and its alignment with the HBCU Athletic Conference (HBUAC). … Currently, gymnastics is not an HBCUAC-sanctioned sport, resulting in considerable challenges for the university to schedule competitions and build a robust recruiting pipeline.”

This past season, Fisk was one of 85 women’s college gymnastics programs in the U.S. The other 84 were at schools where athletics are a part of NCAA Division I (62), Division II (four) or Division III (18). Fisk’s other varsity programs, on the other hand, compete in the NAIA, which has its own set of rules and financial limitations.

Fisk’s 2025 campaign ended at the Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics National Invitation Championship, an event for non-Division I programs, where seven team members earned the right to compete and one, Morgan Price, stole the show. Price won her second individual all-around national championship and then finished first in all four individual events – vault, balance beam, uneven parallel bars and floor exercise — an unprecedented sweep.

Along the way, the GymDogs beat NCAA Division I and Division II opponents, including two D-Is in a single meet. Price scored a perfect 10 on the uneven bars and was ranked among the top 35 in the country, regardless of classification, in the all-around. She and three of her teammates earned first-team All-American recognition.

Ultimately, though, no other HBCU wanted to, or thought it could do what Fisk had done. The first college gymnastics national championship was contested in 1982, and over more than four decades, no HBCU had — or has — its own gymnastics team.

Price was a highly recruited athlete from Texas who had originally committed to the University of Arkansas, where her family had close ties to the gymnastics program. Yet, she changed her mind and chose Fisk, where she immediately became the face of the program.

“Growing up in gymnastics, I rarely had teammates who looked like me,” she said when she enrolled at Fisk. “I wanted to be a part of history and inspire younger girls who want to attend a HBCU as well.”

In 2024, she was named the HBCU Sports Female Athlete of the Year. This year, College Gymnastics News named her its 2025 Women’s College Gymnast of the Year.

Now, however, she will have to inspire others in a different manner. Early last month, Price announced that she planned to transfer out of Fisk for her senior season, and the school wished her well. Eight days later, she officially signed with Arkansas, where she will compete alongside her older sister.

From a talent perspective, replacing Price seems impossible: She is an elite college gymnast who can compete with the best in the sport. To convince another like her to come to Fisk for just one year is improbable, to say the least.

Yet from a roster standpoint, it is imperative. Fisk’s 2025 lineup included five seniors and one grad student, and it’s likely that at least some remaining team members will decide to transfer out, as Price did.

If Fisk can’t field a whole team or something close to it — remember, school officials already have publicly acknowledged the challenges associated with recruiting for the program under normal circumstances — the 2025 season will stand as the last.

“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,” Valencia Jordan, Director of Fisk Athletics, said in last week’s release. “Fisk is grateful for the hard work, dedication and tenacity of its gymnasts, staff members, and coaches who made this program possible.”

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