As of July 1st, Division I schools can directly share revenue with their student-athletes. It’s the result of a $2.8 billion agreement in the House v NCAA antitrust lawsuit.
The settlement resolves three antitrust cases involving the NCAA. “House” is a plaintiff in one of those cases. The 2.8 billion dollars will go to former student-athletes who didn’t receive compensation because NIL deals were not allowed from 2016 to 2024.
Who will get paid going forward?
Each school can spend 20.5 million dollars this year on its athletes. LSU has said 75% will go to football players, 15% to men’s basketball, and 5% to women’s basketball. The rest of the money will be divided up between baseball, gymnastics, and track and field.
LSU’s executive deputy athletic director, Keli Zinn, said every team will receive some money.
Schools that go over the 20.5 million cap could be fined, coaches could be suspended, and a reduction on transfers could also be put in place.
How will LSU pay for this?
LSU athletics usually produces a net profit, but revenue sharing will result in an eight-million-dollar deficit this fiscal year.
LSU has cut three million dollars in expenses, but LSU will try to line up more corporate sponsorships.
Advertisements are expected to appear on the field in Tiger Stadium this year, and if the NCAA allows patches on the jerseys, expect to see advertisements on the uniforms.
What happens to NIL?
NIL deals will still take place, but any name, image, and likeness deal that’s over $600 will be subject to review to make sure the student-athlete is not being overpaid for promoting a business or company.
This could put an end to the pay-for-play system that we’ve seen, where high school athletes or transfers receive huge NIL deals to play for a school. They will now have to show that the money going to a student-athlete is for a valid business purpose.
Related
Roster sizes increase
Roster sizes are increasing. In football, you can now have 105 scholarship players instead of 85. But LSU Coach Brian Kelly has said it’s unlikely the Tigers will have 105 scholarship players.
Men’s basketball will increase from 13 to 15 scholarship players, but no more than 15 players will be on the roster, which makes it difficult for a walk-on to be a part of the roster.
Baseball can increase its scholarship limit from 11.7 to 34. But it’s unclear how many more scholarships will be available to the LSU baseball program.
What will happen moving forward?
The 20.5-million-dollar revenue sharing cap will go up each year.
More lawsuits are likely to come as well.
And when will we see collective bargaining come to college athletics, especially since players are viewed as employees of the university, since they are paid directly by the school.