The NCAA agrees to allow schools to pay college athletes. How much? When will it start?

The structure of college sports is about to change. Prepare for the start of schools paying athletes directly.

Thursday night, NCAA President Charlie Baker issued a statement along with major college sports conferences, including the ACC and SEC, announcing an agreement to a historic settlement in a case involving athlete’s remuneration. The deal would set aside nearly $2.8 billion in back payments to thousands of current and former college athletes while also establishing a system that would allow schools to pay up to $20 million a year to their athletes.

It’s the latest major change in the way college sports are traditionally played. Student athletes were allowed to enter into name, image and likeness (NIL) agreements starting in 2021, which led to college football and basketball stars (and players across all sports) getting paid legitimately for the first time. This has led to the return of EA Sports’ beloved video game with the soon-to-be-released College Football 25.

What will this latest development mean? They are Florida, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and other schools across the country will begin paying their stars in time for the 2024 college football season? Here’s what we know.

The case is one of many lawsuits the NCAA has faced regarding NIL rights. Former Arizona State swimmer Grant House filed the antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA in 2020, which was later joined by former TCU basketball player Sedona Prince and became a class action.

The former athletes argued that old NIL rules and NCAA statutes illegally suppressed athletes’ earning potential. Many of these rules have become obsolete since the 2021 Supreme Court ruling in NCAA v. Alston opened the door for states to allow college athletes to sign NIL agreements.

And even these contracts are not fair compensation, athlete advocates say. Although some athletes, such as former Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark and current Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, have managed to earn millions of dollars in endorsement money, this pales in comparison to the amount of money generated by gigantic endorsement deals. NCAA broadcast, for which the athletes argued they deserved compensation.

For example, Texas quarterback Arch Manning It has an NIL valuation worth $2.4 million, according to On3. But the SEC, the Texas conference that begins this fall, signed a 10-year deal with ESPN worth $3 billion which starts this year. The Big Ten are getting $8 billion from its broadcast deal with NBC, Fox and CBS, which began in 2023. And while student-athletes are the stars of these programs, they have traditionally not been eligible to receive a dime from these massive contracts.

What does the NCAA agreement mean?

Simply put, this will change. The settlement agreed between the NCAA, the Power Five conferences and plaintiffs’ lawyers would put into practice US$2.75 billion in a pool to be distributed among eligible current and former college athletes over 10 years.

Of greater impact, however, is the agreement to allow schools to pay athletes directly for the first time since the NCAA was founded in 1906. Thursday night’s statement stated that the revenue-sharing plan would be worth 22% of power conference program average. revenues in the first year of liquidation. That number is expected to be about $20 million per school, and that number will increase as program revenues increase.

Can colleges pay athletes?

Not yet. The federal judge overseeing the case must first sign off on the agreement. Payments to current athletes would then be allowed starting in the fall of 2025.

Colleges can choose not to use the full quota. They may even choose not to use it. But they should know that other colleges will do so, and they should remember that it is easier than ever for student-athletes to transfer.

How much will college athletes get paid to play sports?

Specific numbers remain to be seen. Once the settlement is approved by a judge, the schools will receive about $20 million a year to distribute to their athletes. How much goes to those who play big-money sports (football and basketball) and how much is distributed between male and female athletes will likely be a point of contention in the future.

The ongoing legal fight between the State of Florida and the Atlantic Coast Conference is not affected by Thursday’s agreement. FSU is suing its conference over its restrictive media rights agreement and its alleged $572 million exit fee. A hearing in Leon County, Florida, is scheduled for June 18while the school has asked the North Carolina Supreme Court to review the case filed in that state by the ACC.

What other lawsuits does the NCAA face related to player payments?

The NCAA still faces several lawsuits from former athletes, the most significant of which is pressure from the National Labor Relations Board to classifying college athletes as school employees. This would give players access to health benefits and allow them to unionize, among other things.

There is also Fontenot v. NCAA, which is pending in Colorado courts. Atlético lays out the details of that lawsuit, which “also seeks class action certification and asserted that rules prohibiting ‘pay-for-play’ compensation violate antitrust law.”

Can you accept money as a college athlete? How much money can athletes earn with NIL?

Since the Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that NCAA rules restricting benefits to athletes were unconstitutional, student athletes have been allowed to profit from NIL deals. This money is typically managed by NIL collectives, which organize funds from a program’s donors and pay athletes from there. According to Business Insider, 80% of the money going towards NIL comes from collectives, with the rest coming from branded businesses.

According to On3 NIL Assessment Tracker, the biggest NIL earner is Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, son of FSU legend and Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders. The site lists Sanders’ NIL valuation at $4.6 million. It is important to note that although the NIL industry is worth about $1 billion annually, according to NIL company Overdorse, the On3 tracker lists just 25 athletes nationwide worth $1 million in NIL valuation. And college football reporter Ross Dellenger reported that the average Power 5 football player earns around $10,000 to $50,000 through NIL collectives.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: NCAA paying players: What the deal means for Florida athletes