INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) released an overview of the House settlement agreement approved by Judge Claudia Wilken on June 6.
Colleges and universities can now deliver unprecedented financial benefits directly to NCAA student-athletes. This new framework allows for greater recognition of the immense revenue a small handful of college sports programs create for their universities, while maintaining space for the vast majority of sports and programs that generate little revenue at all.
- Delivers Unprecedented Financial Benefits to Student-Athletes: Enables schools to direct approximately $20 million in financial benefits to student-athletes annually. In combination with other forms of support (i.e., scholarships, housing, nutritional support and academic tutoring), this means nearly 50% of revenue at many large universities can now fund direct student-athlete benefits.
- Removes Scholarship Limits: Takes a phased-in approach to removing scholarship limits in favor of roster limits, which will ultimately allow schools to more than double scholarships for women’s sports and significantly increase scholarships for men’s sports. For participating schools, NCAA scholarship limits have been removed and roster limits have been established for each sport (24 in men’s water polo, 24 in women’s water polo), allowing for a significant increase in scholarship opportunities for student-athletes. Under this new model, schools will have the option to offer partial or full scholarships to every student-athlete on a team’s roster, as long as the total number of student-athletes stays within the sport’s specific roster limit.
- Allows the NCAA to elevate its mission: This structure of this new benefits framework – which will be regulated by the College Sports Commission – will enable the NCAA to focus squarely on its mission to give student-athletes the best possible athletic and academic experience, with an emphasis on supporting their well-being, generating interest in their sports, and ensuring fairness in competition.
Student-athletes made clear they want to study, practice and compete with the confidence and peace of mind that they are well protected academically, athletically, and in life. As part of an ongoing commitment to student-athletes, the NCAA and its member schools enacted new mandates, vastly expanding the scope of benefits and protections for college athletes.
As of August 1, 2024, the NCAA requires all Division I schools (and Division II and III schools that compete in Division I sports) to deliver new core guarantees to student-athletes, including:
- Scholarship protections: Assurance that scholarships cannot be reduced or canceled for athletic reasons.
- Degree completion support: Access to funds to complete their degrees for up to 10 years after the end of their athletics eligibility.
- Academic services, career counseling and life skills training: Access to enhanced education and resources across a range of topics including mental health, sexual violence prevention, transfer requirements, strength and conditioning, nutrition, financial literacy, career preparation and name, image and likeness opportunities.
- Health care and medical services: Coverage of medical costs for injuries, including out-of-pocket expenses like copayments and deductibles that insurance doesn’t cover.
Additionally, the NCAA is providing post-eligibility insurance coverage for student-athletes in all divisions. The coverage extends two years after the completion of a student’s college athletics experience and covers injuries that occur while a student is practicing or competing for a school.
With a focus on fairness and support for student-athletes, the NCAA is continuing to modernize its rules to improve outcomes for the new era of student-athletes. Recent changes reduce penalties, provide more flexibility, and support student-athletes’ name, image and likeness activities while still protecting competitive integrity – and more.
Examples include:
- Division I schools can identify name, image and likeness opportunities and facilitate deals between student-athletes and third parties for student-athletes who disclose their NIL agreements.
- Division I student-athletes who meet certain academic eligibility requirements will be immediately eligible at their next school, regardless of whether they transferred previously.
- Division I changed its reinstatement policies for sports betting to require one year of ineligibility instead of a permanent ban.
- Each division has removed cannabinoids from the list of NCAA banned substances, following rationale for the change from the December 2022 Summit on Cannabinoids in College Athletics, which produced the consensus opinion that cannabis is not a performance-enhancing drug and that a harm-reduction approach to cannabis use is best implemented at the school level.
The NCAA has also adopted several student-athlete NIL protections — with input from student-athletes — to help them fairly and securely profit from their NIL rights. Additionally, the NCAA contracted with Teamworks to launch NIL Assist, a platform to connect student-athletes with potential service providers and provide comprehensive education and insight into evolving trends within the NIL environment.
Following are significant dates related to the implementation of the settlement:
- June 6, 2025: Settlement approved; settlement-related NCAA rules are effective, as adopted by the NCAA Division I Board on April 21, 2025.
- June 11, 2025: NIL Go portal launches.
- June 15, 2025: Opt-in deadline for non-defendant schools to fully commit to revenue sharing.
- July 1, 2025: First date for direct institutional revenue sharing payments to student-athletes.
- July 6, 2025: Opt-in schools must “designate” student-athletes permitted by the settlement to remain above roster limits.
- Start of 2025-26 academic year: With the exception of the “designated” student-athletes, Fall sports must be at or below roster limits by their first day of competition.
- December 1, 2025: With the exception of “designated” student-athletes, Winter and Spring sports must be at or below roster limits by their first day of competition or December 1, whichever is earlier.
Information courtesy National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)
