Overview

• The settlement, finalized by a federal judge on June 6, allocates $2.8 billion in back pay and authorizes schools to begin direct revenue sharing with athletes on July 1, 2025.
• The College Sports Commission, led by CEO Bryan Seeley, will enforce new revenue-sharing rules and vet third-party NIL deals over $600 through Deloitte’s NIL Go clearinghouse.
• Conference commissioners have committed to uniform rule enforcement and are urging Congress to establish a federal NIL framework and grant antitrust protections.
• Football and men’s basketball are projected to receive the majority of shared revenue, prompting concerns that women’s, Olympic sports and Group of 5 programs may receive disproportionately less funding.
• Colleges are reworking athletic budgets and roster structures to accommodate revenue sharing, with some programs increasing scholarship counts while reducing overall team sizes.