Now that a California judge has signed off on the settlement, here is a detailed look at how it could dramatically alter college sports, including for UNLV.

Hill: New NCAA rules far from perfect, but could work for UNLV

UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka (3) runs with the ball during the college football game against Utah Tech at Allegiant Stadium, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Daniel Jacobi II/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

UNLV players gather with head coach Kevin Kruger as they face the Wyoming Cowboys during the first half of their NCAA men’s basketball game at the Thomas & Mack Center on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images

Judge Claudia Wilken has finally made her ruling, and with one stroke of the pen potentially changed college sports forever.

The 75-year-old, a senior judge with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, approved the terms of a settlement in the so-called House vs. NCAA case that will have far-reaching impact on how student-athletes are compensated.

It was a settlement agreement that had been pending before her for nearly a year, and programs around the country made preparations for how they would implement the new guidelines without knowing for sure they would ever go into effect.

Now it’s time to move forward.

Here is a look at some frequently asked questions about what the settlement means:

What was the original suit that led to the settlement?

The historic agreement that is widely referred to as House vs. NCAA is actually the settlement of three separate lawsuits that essentially claim the NCAA systematically violated antitrust regulations by restricting compensation to athletes.

The House case, filed in 2020 in the Northern District of California, involved Arizona State swimmer Grant House and TCU basketball player Sedona Prince, who claimed damages from the NCAA and affiliated conferences that were restricting the rights of athletes to share in broadcast revenue.

Hubbard vs. NCAA is a class action suit filed by Oklahoma State running back Chuba Hubbard, now of the Carolina Panthers, and former Oregon and Auburn track athlete Keira McCarrell. It sought to recover damages on behalf of athletes who had been denied education-related Alston award benefits that should have been available to them as a result of the Supreme Court decision in NCAA vs. Alston.

Prince was also part of Carter vs. NCAA, which was filed in 2023. That case also included former Duke and current Buffalo Bills defensive tackle DeWayne Carter and Stanford soccer player Nya Harrison and essentially challenged the very notion of collegiate sports being an amateur endeavor and sought to put an end to the NCAA’s prohibition on compensation to athletes.

What did the parties agree to in the settlement?

The parties came together in May 2024 and agreed to a settlement of all three cases that called for back payment of $2.78 billion for athletes who competed in sports between 2016 and 2024.

It also attempted to put together the framework of a compensation model moving forward.

So, everything is fixed?

Oh, if only it were that simple. A great number of lawsuits are expected to be filed that will challenge the settlement now that it’s confirmed.

Of course, there will also be Title IX challenges related to gender equity.

That could potentially throw a wrench into implementation of any substantive changes should any of them reach a point of forcing an injunction.

As far as the NCAA is concerned, it’s operating as if payments to athletes can begin on July 1. That may only be temporary, however, depending on how all these other issues play out.

There are also other suits pending from former athletes, including some high-profile names, who don’t believe this settlement went far enough. That led to more than 350 athletes who could have collected on this case to opt out of the settlement.

Then there is the matter of some conferences or individual schools potentially opting out of the settlement.

A decision by a school to opt out would exempt the institution from sharing in the responsibility for the settlement payment and exempt them from the new rules, meaning it may be more difficult to attract athletes who would prefer signing with a program that will pay them.

UNLV has announced its intention to opt in.

Schools in the Power Four will almost certainly opt in, and most have already announced an intention to do so, though there was some question about Tennessee after a new state law appeared to put its status in doubt. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey recently announced all 16 schools in the league would opt in and had agreed to amend any state laws that could contradict the agreement.

But other states have already passed their own laws, and there will certainly be questions about whether state law supersedes NCAA regulations.

So, yeah, this is still far from over. But that shouldn’t take away from the fact it was a massive step.

OK, so what are the major tenets of the agreement that will be implemented?

The NCAA announced a series of changes to its rulebook that are now set to take effect with the approval of the settlement.

That included the elimination of more than 150 rules on the books as the entire system is overhauled.

Some of the major updates include:

— Direct payments: Even though compensation has been allowed to student-athletes over the past several years, schools could not directly pay players. That will change, though there will be what amounts to a salary cap put in place.

Athletic departments will now be allowed to distribute up to $20.5 million per year starting in 2025-26, a number that is derived from 22 percent of the average power conference athletics revenue, and will escalate over the course of the 10-year deal. One court filing included a projection that the cap will increase by about $1 million per year.

That money is in addition to scholarship money that covers things like tuition, housing and monthly stipends.

— Roster limits: This was the biggest holdup to approval of the settlement and its most controversial aspect. The current system calls for limits on scholarships in each sport, but that is set to change as the focus shifts to a cap on the number of roster spots for each sport.

For example, football will go from a cap of 85 scholarships to a limit of 105 players on the roster, with no cap on scholarships. Softball limits programs to 12 scholarships to split among the team. Now, the cap will be 25 players on the roster but no limit on scholarships.

While that is great news for the non-scholarship players who are going to be on the roster, it will probably eliminate the opportunity for some aspiring athletes who may have previously been walk-on candidates. A big shift is likely in how programs manage scholarships.

Wilken’s stated issue with this aspect of the settlement was that many programs around the country have already made roster adjustments in anticipation of the settlement, and she requested an amendment that guaranteed no current student-athletes would be harmed by the new rules.

The parties did amend the wording to allow schools to grandfather in existing players, but did not require it. It’s not an ideal solution, but it was always going to be a difficult gap to bridge because some players had moved on to other opportunities or may not even want to return after being trimmed from the roster in anticipation of the settlement.

Wilken’s ruling tried to carve out special considerations for those athletes.

“The parties modified the (agreement) to provide that settlement class members whose roster spots were taken away or would have been taken away because of the immediate implementation will be exempt from roster limits at any Division I school for the duration of their college athletics careers,” the order stated. “This means that the class members in question will not count toward any school’s roster limit for the remainder of their Division I athletic eligibility.”

According to the ruling, the parties also agreed to making good-faith efforts to identify student-athletes who were on a 2024-25 roster or recruited for a 2025-26 roster who were removed or would have been removed from the roster due to the implementation of the limits stated in the settlement.

The roster limit exemptions for those players will extend to any other institution they attend for the extent of their eligibility. The order also prohibits the NCAA from blocking any transfer back to a student’s original school who departed because of the roster limit implementation.

— NIL reform: Athletes will still be able to enter into name, image and likeness deals with third parties above and beyond what they receive from their institution, but there will finally be some oversight on those contracts.

The accounting firm Deloitte has been tasked with creating an independent clearinghouse to review and approve any payments of more than $600 to ensure they are legitimate deals based on fair-market value and not strictly pay-for-play arrangements.

— Back pay: The nearly $2.8 billion set aside in the settlement to pay athletes who competed between 2016 and 2024 will be 60 percent paid out by the NCAA and 40 percent from the schools that opt in to the pact. The majority of money from the institutions will be paid off by way of a reduction in revenue payouts from the NCAA for events such as the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments over the next 10 years.

There is some question as to how the money will be divided, but the overwhelming majority is expected to go to football and basketball players, similar to the expected breakdown of payouts to current and future athletes.

Some individual athletes in Olympic sports are expected to get substantial payouts based on unfulfilled earning potential while they were competing and barred from cashing in on their name, image and likeness.

How does this all affect UNLV?

UNLV has a unique role in the narrative about NIL reform because of the situation involving Matthew Sluka, the team’s starting quarterback who left the program after three games last season amid an NIL dispute and triggered national discourse over the system.

The school has declared its intention to opt in to the agreement. That will likely mean the school is on the hook for more than $5 million for its share of back pay over the next 10 years.

It also means the school can begin sharing revenue with student-athletes as soon as next month.

While the cap is set at $20.5 million in distribution payments, the total amount distributed to athletes by the school isn’t expected to approach that number.

The exact amounts have not been disclosed and could be affected by ongoing mediation over compensation from schools that have departed for the Pac-12.

Still, the football and men’s basketball programs are expected to dole out payments at a level that is near the top of the Mountain West.

There could also be immediate ramifications as a result of the roster limit issue.

Coach Dan Mullen recently told the Review-Journal the program had lost several walk-ons that may have otherwise remained with the team had it not been preparing for the implementation of roster limits.

Mullen said those players could return if the settlement is amended to allow them to be a part of the program without counting against the limit, which is now official.

“We’re waiting for the ruling,” he said. “I (told them), ‘You’re welcome to stay if they’re allowed to be part of the program. You’re all welcome to stay.’

“If you want to go explore, you’re not going to lose your roster spot, in my mind — if you do go to the portal. Most of our guys in the portal are walk-on guys that know they have the spot here. They just want to see what the opportunity is for them elsewhere depending on how the case ends up and then how the settlement ends up.”

Now they have some answers.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.

Late Friday night’s settlement in the historic House vs. NCAA case has changed college athletics forever. Direct payment to athletes via revenue sharing will now begin on July 1st, and the landscape will forever be changed as a result.

We’ve already touched on what it means for Alabama moving forward, but one of the significant pieces of the settlement is the $2.88 billion that will be allocated to athletes in back pay. Athletes who played college sports from 2016 and on will be eligible to receive part of that money, which will be paid out over the next decade.

That got us to thinking about the last decade of Alabama athletics and the numerous players who came through Tuscaloosa and weren’t able to take part in NIL or the new revenue sharing model. These players would have undoubtedly been paid a pretty penny under today’s rules.

Let’s take a look at the five Alabama athletes who deserve the biggest share of the back pay pie.

These 5 former Alabama players should earn the most significant back pay

5. Will Anderson Jr.

Before becoming the No. 3 overall pick in the NFL Draft and immediately becoming a household name in the NFL for the Houston Texans, Will Anderson Jr. was a terrorizing force for the Crimson Tide defense from 2020-22.

Nicknamed “The Terminator,” Anderson burst onto the scene as a true freshman in 2020, starting all 13 games for the Crimson Tide. He racked up 52 tackles and seven sacks, helping lead Alabama to a perfect 13-0 season and the final National Championship of the Nick Saban era.

Over his last two years in Tuscaloosa, Anderson emerged as a vocal leader for the Crimson Tide and he produced 52 tackles-for-loss and 27.5 sacks combined. He was perhaps the best player in college football as a sophomore, finishing with an unbelievable 35 tackles-for-loss to go along with 17.5 sacks.

Anderson would have been worth a significant percentage of Alabama’s revenue sharing.

4. Collin Sexton

It’s obvious that football will dominate this, considering the amount of success – and revenue generated – by the program over the last decade. But I would be remiss if I didn’t mention at least one basketball player, and while Brandon Miller and Mark Sears have an argument to be on this list, there may not have been a more significant player in recent Alabama basketball history than Collin Sexton.

Before the Nate Oats era, and before Alabama became one of the top basketball programs in the country, Sexton chose to play for Avery Johnson and the Crimson Tide. Sexton came to Tuscaloosa at a time when Alabama had not had a first-round NBA draft pick in 17 years.

He only stayed for one spectacular season, but he changed the narrative about the program in the process. Sexton averaged over 19 points per game as a freshman, and his heroics led Alabama to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in six years, producing the Tide’s first NCAA Tournament win in 12 years in the process.

Sexton was then the 8th overall pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2018 NBA Draft.

Since he left, Alabama has made the NCAA Tournament five times, producing 11 victories in March Madness and the program’s first Final Four in 2024. Alabama has also seen four more players selected in the first-round of the NBA Draft.

Sexton helped lay the groundwork for what the Bama basketball program has become. His impact was priceless.

3. Bryce Young

Bryce Young became the first quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy at Alabama and then became the first Tide player to be the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft since the AFL/NFL merger.

(Joe Namath was the No. 1 pick in the AFL Draft, and Harry Gilmer was the No. 1 pick back in 1948, pre-merger.)

Young was the backup QB on Alabama’s 2020 National Championship team, and then had an unbelievable two-year run as the team’s starter. He had a record-breaking season in 2021, producing a school-record 4872 passing yards and 47 touchdowns on his way to the Heisman. He led the Tide to an SEC Championship and a national runner-up finish.

Young has a legitimate argument as the best QB in school history.

2. DeVonta Smith

DeVonta Smith is the best WR in Alabama history, and one of the most accomplished football players in the history of the sport, period.

Smith had an incredible four-year career in Tuscaloosa, bookended by National Championships. As a little-known freshman, Smith caught the game-winning pass in overtime against Georgia to deliver Alabama the 2017 National Championship.

He had a prolific junior season in 2019, producing 1256 yards and 14 touchdowns, including an Alabama single-game record five receiving touchdowns against Ole Miss that season. But it was his senior season that separated him as the best in school history.

Smith recorded 1856 yards and 23 touchdowns as a senior, winning the Heisman Trophy as a WR and leading Alabama to the 2020 National Championship.

The skinny kid from Amite is Alabama’s all-time leader in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns. His 46 career receiving touchdowns are 15 more than Amari Cooper, who is No. 2 on the list.

1. Tua Tagovailoa

Could No. 1 be anyone else? If you don’t think Bryce Young is the best QB in Alabama history, odds are good you think it’s Tua Tagovailoa.

With a tip of the cap to Jalen Hurts, Tagovailoa changed everything for the quarterback position at Alabama. His prolific play directly led to the Crimson Tide landing 5-stars like Young and newcomer Keelon Russell.

Tagoavailoa produced one of the most iconic moments in Alabama history, coming off the bench in the National Championship game as a freshman, and leading the Crimson Tide back from a 13-0 halftime deficit to beat Georgia. His touchdown pass in overtime on 2nd-and-26 will forever be remembered in college football lore.

Tagovailoa is Alabama’s all-time leader in touchdown passes with 87. In his first season as the starting QB, he finished as the Heisman runner-up with 3966 passing yards and 43 touchdowns. He was arguably even better as a junior, throwing 33 touchdowns to just 3 interceptions, before he suffered a devastating injury against Mississippi State that ended his Tide career.

In the NIL era, Tagovailoa would have been worth eight figures. He’s made more than enough money in the NFL, but he deserves a significant chunk of the back pay.

After five years of litigation, the NCAA is set to change forever after the approval of the House v. NCAA settlement.

House v. NCAA settled three different antitrust lawsuits against the NCAA regarding player pay. Among the sweeping changes to college athletics are revenue sharing directly between schools and players and roster limits replacing scholarship limits.

How will this case affect your favorite college sports and teams? Here is a breakdown of the biggest impacts of the $2.8 billion settlement.

More NCAA Content From TWSN

5 Biggest Impacts of The House v. NCAA Settlement

The most notable impact of course has to do with the billions of dollars that flow through college sports. Following the settlement, there will now be revenue sharing and salary cap guidelines, along with a handful of other key impacts.

Revenue Sharing and a Salary Cap

Moving forward, schools can choose to opt into revenue sharing and allocate a portion of their athletic department funds to pay players directly. The cap will start at $20.5 million in 2025-26 and increase by at least 4% annually for the next decade.

This does not eliminate NIL collectives from college sports, but it will drastically diminish their influence. Schools that opt into revenue sharing will primarily use that pool rather than collectives, although external NIL deals are still on the table that can help schools spend more money without exceeding the salary cap.

Most schools are expected to follow close to a 75-15-5-5 percent split between football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and all other sports, although schools are free to split money however they choose.

House v. NCAA was an antitrust case, not a Title IX case, so the settlement does not have to be distributed 50-50 between men’s and women’s athletes, although keep an eye out for future lawsuits.

Not every school will have $20.5 million at its disposal, as the salary cap was calculated as 22% of the annual average revenue for Power Four athletic departments. Schools with smaller revenues, especially those without football programs, may not have the resources to allocate that much money for direct player pay.

How each school chooses to divide its revenue-sharing money will have a massive impact on the next decade of college sports. Schools that choose to invest more in men’s basketball or even traditionally non-revenue sports (think Nebraska volleyball and LSU gymnastics) could create competitive advantages and generate more profit than their competition in those sports. It will be harder than ever for schools like Florida to remain competitive in football, men’s basketball and other sports, as they face pressure to invest more in certain programs.

Roster Limits and Non-Revenue Sports in Jeopardy

Football will get the most headlines with its new 105-player roster limit, as the scholarship system is replaced throughout college sports. Walk-ons are effectively eliminated, although most schools are not expected to carry 105 scholarship football players, leaving room for walk-ons.

The settlement also includes a grandfather clause that allows schools to keep all players currently on the roster and protect them from any cuts, so some schools could still exceed the roster limits for the next few years.

Athletes in sports like swimming are not as lucky, as the new roster limit of 30 men and 30 women is a harsh decline from the typical 40+ roster sizes. The SEC even enacted a smaller roster limit of 22 men and 22 women.

Despite the grandfather clause, many athletes will likely lose their roster spots as schools are faced with difficult financial decisions. Other non-revenue sports could be at risk, as schools put more emphasis and money into sports like football due to revenue sharing.

Backpay For Former Athletes

Former student-athletes dating back to 2016 are eligible to receive payments from the multi-billion-dollar settlement. Most of that money will be distributed to football and basketball players due to lost money from television rights.

How much money former athletes will receive from the settlement remains to be seen, but former Power Five football and men’s basketball players in particular could be in line for large paydays.

Auditing and Regulating NIL Deals

Since Name, Image and Likeness deals became prevalent in July 2021, there has been little regulation, turning college sports into the Wild West. The settlement attempts to solve that issue by tasking the world’s biggest accounting firm, Deloitte, with auditing all NIL deals valued at $600 or greater.

This partnership is intended to create more transparency in NIL deals, but most importantly, ensure fair compensation.

Over the past four years, boosters with deep pockets have been able to hand out NIL deals of any value with little oversight. Now, those deals will receive more scrutiny, which could weed out shady deals and direct pay-for-play methods.

It also begs the question of how fair market value is determined. Athletes in non-revenue sports like gymnastics have leveraged NIL to build brands and become some of the highest earners in college sports. Will personality and off-field popularity be considered along with the profitability of their sport when deciding “fair market value”?

The End of Amateurism?

In the aftermath of NIL, many have cried out that paying players will be the death of college sports. Now, athletes are finally being paid directly.

House v. NCAA did not answer every question in college athletics, leaving the door open for more uncertainty and more lawsuits. It will be a shame if the settlement leads to cuts to traditionally non-revenue-generating sports and widens the gap between the haves and have-nots of college athletics.

Talk about your Friday night news dump. Late Friday evening, the college sports world changed forever, and unfortunately, there were plenty of impacts on the Nebraksa football program and the Nebraska Cornhuskers athletic department in particular that had huge negative connotations.

Judge Claudia Wilken signed off on the House vs NCAA settlement, putting a swatch of new rules on major college sports. Most of those will have some positive effects. Still, it’s important to note that an awful lot of the ruling benefits the NCAA and administrators as they once again limit athletes, especially the methods and amounts they can be paid.

For Nebraska football, especially, the House vs NCAA settlement means that the walk-on program is over as we’ve known it for decades. While the Huskers will still have walk-ons, Matt Rhule and company won’t be able to take as many as they want. Let’s dive deep into every bit of what this massive change means, especially since it’s happening faster than most might have expected.

Roster limits will change how Nebraska football above others does business

There are now roster limits for every sport. The one that’s been reported the most is the 105-man roster for football, but men’s and women’s basketball now have a 15-person cap, baseball is capped at 34, men’s and women’s soccer allows for 28 players, softball is set to 25, and volleyball has 18 players.

The key here, for Nebraska football, for example, is that the athletic department can offer 105 scholarships. Or it can offer 85 scholarships and then have 20 walk-ons. It’s expected that’s how most programs will work.

The same approach will likely apply to the other sports. Husker baseball can offer 34 scholarships over the current, much smaller limit. Still, it almost certainly won’t go that high, mainly because every university also has new costs, both in paying its share of the $2.7 billion House Settlement and with the arrival of the new revenue sharing era.

There is one important caveat here. Judge Wilken forced the NCAA to insert “grandfather clause language into the agreement. That language was meant to protect any player who joined the programs this year and then had to leave or was kicked off because of the roster limits.

Essentially, anyone who wants to stay at Nebraska or elsewhere will be able to do so and not affect the 105-man roster until the natural end of their college career. It will be interesting to see if any guys who left this spring decide to come back. It seems unlikely, but not impossible.

It also means that, for now, the Cornhuskers and others don’t need to get down to 105. Considering NU is currently sitting at an official roster of 129, that’s good news for the guys currently on the team. This massive change won’t take effect in totality for a couple more seasons, though that also complicates things, as coaches and newly minted general managers will need to keep track of where they’ll sit when a player leaves and how many guys they can take in each season.

How will revenue sharing work at Nebraska and other programs?

Revenue sharing will be carried out similarly to how salary caps work in professional leagues. Every year, revenue numbers from the power conferences will be plugged into a formula, and then a rev share cap will be spit out the other end.

For the 2025-2026 season, the cap is expected to be around $20.5 million per school. That’s the entirety of the pool for all sports. It will then be up to people like Troy Dannen to decide how to split that pie up among football, baseball, basketball, volleyball, etc.

It’s thought that most major programs, like Nebraska football, will receive between $13 and $16 million, and the other sports will share the rest.

How this gets split is incredibly important because while NIL will still exist, it’s about to undergo a major shift in how it works. The Wild West, at least for now, is gone.

NIL Go changes the pay-for-play landscape

Schools paying players through NIL money directly is officially over. A new clearinghouse called NIL Go will officially be born next week (they announced the man who will oversee it just an hour after the settlement became law in former MLB exec Bryan Seeley). It will have sole authority over what NIL deals can be made when it goes into effect.

Chief among the new rules is that pay-for-play is gone. When a new NIL deal is signed, it must be between the athletes and a third party (not anyone affiliated with the schools).

The agreement must also involve deals that involve services rendered. And the payment must be a “reasonable amount” for an endorsement—no more $1 million paydays for an Instagram post.

NIL Go must approve any NIL deal that pays more than $600. There will be a process where the deal will either be approved, denied, or need more review. If the agreement is rejected, athletes can try to make a new one or appeal for arbitration.

This process is laid out to make it very hard for Nebraska athletes and others to get any deal they want and work around the rules. Expect lawsuits aplenty once players start getting their NIL deals denied.

Important dates for Nebraska fans to know

So, when does all this go into effect? We’re used to thinking we have at least a few months to get a feel for massive new changes to how college athletics work. That’s not the case here. This all begins next week.

June 11: NIL Go opens its doors and becomes the law of the land.

June 15: Schools not directly involved in the settlement (Group of 5 FBS schools) must officially opt in to the deal and essentially remain part of FBS.

July 1: Revenue sharing payments from the school to the athletes begin.

July 6: Schools using the grandfather clause to exceed the roster limits must officially designate which players qualify.

Start of school year: All teams must be down to their roster limits (outside of grandfathered players) by “the start of competition.” This means August 28 for Nebraska football.

December 1: Winter sports (basketball, volleyball) must also reach their roster limits by the start of competition or December 1, whichever comes first.

The House vs NCAA settlement is a significant shift for college sports. If you thought NIL and the transfer portal were a new era, you ain’t seen nothing yet. That Nebraska football, the rest of the Cornhuskers sports, and the rest of the sporting world have to adapt and change most of this stuff in a matter of weeks is only going to make it more complex.

Over the years, the transfer portal and NIL have completely changed the landscape of college sports. The portal has become the professional sports version of free agency, while NIL funds have varied from school to school, something Virginia Tech has found out over time.

When it comes to rules and regulations surrounding NIL, fans have been paying close attention and listening to what has been going on with the house settlement, which brings rules regarding NIL and also supplies revenue sharing. It has been taking some time for a ruling to officially come down, and that decision came down late Friday night.

Judge Claudia Wilken officially signed off on the final approval to the proposed settlement.

The case could officially and finally shape college sports forever, and rules regarding NIL, the transfer portal, and revenue sharing. This decision by Judge Wilken all but eliminates concerns going forward, and now it’s up to the schools to go to work.

“Despite some compromises, the settlement agreement nevertheless will result in extraordinary relief for members of the settlement classes,” Wilken wrote in her 76-page final opinion. “If approved, it would permit levels and types of student-athlete compensation that have never been permitted in the history of college sports, while also very generously compensating Division I student-athletes who suffered past harms.”

Athletes will be allowed to be paid by their schools, and each program will be granted just over $20 million to share with athletes across a number of sports. Schools agreed to grandfather the scholarship athletes, which allows athletes to remain and not risk losing their scholarships currently. The NCAA will also pay former athletes $277 million per year over the next 10 years to compensate them for damages.

This decision finally paints a picture of what things will look like going forward, which is what college athletes, coaches, and fans have been waiting for.