College sports has been changed forever.
Division I athletes will soon be able to receive direct payments from their schools for the first time in NCAA history.
California judge Claudia Wilken granted final approval to the House v. NCAA settlement around 9 p.m. ET Friday night, according to Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger. The approval ended three federal antitrust lawsuits and paved the way for schools to begin directly paying athletes starting July 1.
The settlement approves a total of $2.8 billion in compensation over a span of 10 years to past NCAA athletes seeking recompense for their previous inability to seek NIL deals.
NCAA president Charlie Baker called revenue sharing “a tremendously positive change and one that was long overdue” in a letter shared on Friday night.
Baker wrote that the NCAA and DI leaders “are designing a new governance system that reduces the number of committees and streamlines the process to set rules governing competition, championships, eligibility and academic standards.”
“While there will be more to come on the Division I structure, it is clear it must be far simpler with far fewer layers, and student-athletes must have more votes on the committees that deal with issues that impact them,” Baker wrote.
Baker added that the NCAA’s next steps involve working with Congress to enforce the settlement with legislate that would block states from “challenging” the organization’s rulemaking.
