Judge approves US$2.8 billion deal that paves way for US colleges to pay athletes millions
Each school can now share US$20.5 million with athletes, while US$2.7 billion will be paid to ex-players barred from that revenue for years
A federal judge signed off on arguably the biggest change in the history of college sports on Friday, clearing the way for schools to begin paying their athletes millions of dollars 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, US Judge Claudia Wilken approved the final proposal, which had been hung up on roster limits, just one of many changes ahead amid concerns that thousands of walk-on athletes would 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 US$20.5 million with athletes over the next year and US$2.7 billion that will be paid over the next decade to thousands of former players who were barred from that revenue for years.
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 professionalisation 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 programmes.
The agreement will resonate in almost all the NCAA’s 1,100 member schools, boasting nearly 500,000 athletes.