Who gets paid? How much? What to know about the historic NCAA deal

The nearly $2.8 billion deal that was approved by the NCAA and the five largest conferences in the country It is a historic step toward a more professional model for college sports.

The plan, which still needs approval from the plaintiffs and a federal judge, calls for paying damages to thousands of former and current college athletes who say the NCAA’s now-defunct rules prevented them from making money from endorsements.

It also calls for the creation of a first-of-its-kind revenue sharing system for college athletes, which will impact hundreds of schools across the country as early as fall 2025.

The main conclusions:

WHO GETS PAID NOW?

Under the settlement, $2.77 billion in damages will be paid over 10 years for approximately 14,000 claims dating back to 2016. Original plaintiffs included former Arizona State swimmer Grant House and current TCU basketball Sedona Prince.

Determining how much each athlete will receive is an issue that will take months to define and will involve lawyers, the judge and a formula to assess what they are owed.

WHO GETS PAID LATER?

The Big Ten, Big 12, ACC and SEC will make the biggest investment going forward because the deal includes a proposed revenue-sharing system that will allow schools to commit up to $21 million per year to be paid directly to athletes. The overall commitment, including damages, is expected to be around 300 million dollars per school (there are 69 in total) over 10 years.

How this will work is an important question that will take time for schools and conferences to resolve. The NCAA rules will likely need to be rewritten. Schools do not have to make the financial commitment, but failure to do so could result in a competitive disadvantage.

WHO IS PAYING?

The NCAA will cover 41% of the $2.77 billion total, with the largest Division I conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern) accounting for 24% and the other five major college football conferences (American Athletic, Mid-American, Conference USA, Mountain West and Sun Belt) covering 10%.

Conferences competing in Division I football’s second tier, the Championship Subdivision, would cover about 14% and non-football DI conferences would account for 12%.

The NCAA’s expense reduction, insurance and reserve funds are expected to cover about $1.2 billion and the rest will be money that would normally be distributed to 352 Division I schools but will be withheld.

Many smaller schools are worried about losing that NCAA money in their budgets.

ROSTERS AND BAGS

One change that could have the most notable impact on the field is the switch from the NCAA’s traditional scholarship limits to using roster size to determine how many athletes a school can have for a given sport.

This could allow wealthier schools to provide financial benefits to even more athletes than they already do, trying to gain a competitive advantage. It could also lead to schools being more deliberate in deciding how much to invest in certain sports.

“My biggest fear in all of this is what are we asking for, what is this going to do to every sport on every campus?” asked Florida softball coach Tim Walton. were counting on the conference and the NCAA for money? What will this do?

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AP Sports Writer Mark Long contributed.

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