Dan LaForest was surprised as he sat in his office last week reviewing a new contract for a Name, Image and Likeness agreement from a university.

It was one of the first contracts LaForest, the director of NIL for Influencer Counsel, reviewed since the House v. NCAA settlement officially paved the way for schools to pay student-athletes.

LaForest, a former Apopka and college quarterback, represents student-athletes at several Power 4 programs including Oregon, UCF, Florida State, Duke and Ole Miss.

Aside from the length of the contract — 19 pages, or four-to-five times the length of the standard NIL agreement players previously had with collectives — he was struck by some of the language in the deal.

“Before, you were looking at collective contracts that were built around NIL,” LaForest said. “We’re paying you to do something in return or post something on social media. Now, we have contracts directly from the universities because now the National Letter of Intent is gone. We’re talking about university lawyers putting things in contracts that are solely in place to protect the university.”

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The contract is one of many changes quickly coming to the college athletics landscape, as schools can begin revenue sharing up to $20.5 million to student-athletes as soon as July 1.

“We are really excited about it,” Florida State athletic director Michael Alford said. “It’s a changing environment in collegiate athletics. We have elected to be a part of it. We’re going to compensate, and are working on our budget to compensate our student-athletes at the highest, elitist level we can do to continue to compete for championships.”

The recent settlement left some schools scrambling to get signed agreements in place in just a few weeks.

“In all fairness, universities were waiting six months to find out what the specific language would be and now they were left with two to three weeks with a July 1 effective date, LaForest said. “Until the judge ruled on it, everybody had an idea. But I only saw one school that had a revenue share contract prior to a few weeks ago, and they revised the language on it.”

The USA Today Florida Network spoke to college athletic directors, high school athletic directors and coaches, athletes, lawyers, and agents to get answers to some of the biggest questions heading into July 1.

Will revenue sharing bring more parity to the NCAA?

Much of the conversation in recruiting over the past few years has revolved around which teams had the deepest pockets. Who could make the highest bid for a high school player or transfer portal player? While those kinds of things will still exist, athletic departments will be capped at spending $20.5 million across all sports. Theoretically, it should mean a more balanced playing field. Basically, Michigan couldn’t give freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood a $10 million NIL deal without it eating up a huge portion of its allotment.

“It’s the first step back to normalization,” said Jones coach Elijah Williams, who was a national championship at Florida in 1996. “By capping it, kids aren’t getting unlimited money anymore. Now, you get things back to the way college football should be. It’s going to even the playing field. Now, you have guys going to schools where they want to wear the colors, graduate, and be an alumni. These kids graduate and go to four different schools and now they can’t even get a sideline pass because they don’t know you. I believe in giving them something but capping it so it’s an even playing field for everybody. You have to stop buying championships. That’s not college sports.”

Have NCAA programs been spending more than $20.5 million?

For some, way more. According to Knox News, part of the USA TODAY Network, Texas Tech will reportedly pay its players $55 million among all its programs next year between revenue sharing and NIL.

Are high school seniors being offered less NIL money now than they were from collectives in previous years?

Yes. While values vary by player and position — a five-star quarterback and a three-star defensive back have different values — LaForest estimated that rising seniors he represents are being offered approximately 30 percent less than players in previous years.

“It’s way different and way less,” he said. “Only because they have to pay their starters first. Starters aren’t going to happy if a high school recruit who’s on the third team is getting more money than they are.”

What happened to pre-existing NIL deals? Are they still in place?

In some cases, contracts for the 2025-26 school year were written to be paid out before June 30, 2025. Any NIL deals after that are subject to scrutiny by NIL Go.

“Most of the collective contracts were front-loaded, which means the compensation has been paid, or will be paid prior to July 1,” said Mit Winter, an NIL expert and attorney at Kennyhertz Perry in Missouri. “Any collective contacts paid before July 1 don’t have to be disclosed and reviewed by NIL Go. Either contacts are already all paid out before July 1 or some of the payments have been accelerated. I know some examples of that. Some that could extend beyond July 1. But under the new rules they’re supposed to be disclosed to NIL Go and then be reviewed.”

How are college athletic departments splitting up the $20.5 million among their programs?

Multiple people interviewed made similar remarks that several Power 4 programs plan to earmark approximately 75 percent ($15.37 million) for football, 15 percent for men’s basketball (3.08 million), 5 ($1.03 million) percent for women’s basketball, and 5 percent (1.03 million to other sports). Those are approximate numbers and certainly will vary from program to program.

“Twenty point five million is what each school can use,” LaForest said. “Up to $20.5 million. Some schools may not be able to get there. And that is for all sports. Florida has a strong football team, but they just won a natty in basketball. If they say football gets $15 million, how much does basketball get? Three? Basketball is going to say they need more. It’s going to be interesting.”

If approximately 90 percent of the $20.5 million goes to football and men’s basketball, does that create a Title IX issue?

Most likely. And both sides are gearing up for a courtroom showdown.

Sportico reported in May that Arthur H. Bryant, a prominent Title IX attorney, was launching his own practice. “This is a period of golden opportunities for Title IX enforcement in America,” Bryant told Sportico. “The law is very clear that women athletes at colleges and universities are supposed to get equal opportunities to participate, equal financial aid, and equal treatment compared to men. And some schools are providing it. But many, many, many are not. And all it takes to hold them accountable is women being willing to sue.”

“There will definitely be Title IX lawsuits,” Winter said. “It’s a gray area right now. We know Tit IX applies. It will be up to a court to tell us what Title IX means and how it applies to NIL compensation.

“Schools know they’re going to get sued. They’re already building war chests.”

What’s the fallout going to be for non-revenue sports?

That remains to be seen, but there is reason to be concerned. Some Power 4 schools already have made drastic roster cuts to sports like swimming and track & field.

“Power 4 schools, they’ll maintain (the sport), but they may end up cutting some more or consolidating. What I mean by cutting is maybe cutting some athletes or consolidating,” Pine Forest High School track coach Richard Dix said. “You can look at what happened over at Washington State. They got rid of the throws and jumps program. They’re just going to be more of a track team, per se. And there’s going to be a little trickle down effect because in reality we don’t know how it’s going to work right now. You know it goes into effect July 1, but there’s still a lot of unknown of what this means for the state of NCAA and in their school, so I’m a little hesitant to promote my athletes to a point, where is that roster spot going to be there as far as track and field goes? … So, it’s really an unknown for a non-revenue generating sport from my perspective. I just don’t really know how this is going to turn out.”