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Judge’s Ruling Paves Way for Universities to Start Paying Student Athletes

Judge’s Ruling Paves Way for Universities to Start Paying Student Athletes

“brought about by a multibillion-dollar legal settlement that was formally approved Friday”

This strikes me as a very bad idea. It’s going to interfere with the whole point of going to college.

ESPN reports:

Judge OK’s $2.8B settlement, paving way for colleges to pay athletes

Schools are now free to begin paying their athletes directly, marking the dawn of a new era in college sports brought about by a multibillion-dollar legal settlement that was formally approved Friday.

Judge Claudia Wilken approved the deal between the NCAA, its most powerful conferences and lawyers representing all Division I athletes. The House v. NCAA settlement ends three separate federal antitrust lawsuits, all of which claimed the NCAA was illegally limiting the earning power of college athletes.

Wilken’s long-awaited decision comes with less than a month remaining before schools are planning to start cutting checks to athletes on July 1. Both sides presented their arguments for approving the settlement at a hearing in early April. While college sports leaders have been making tentative plans for a major shift in how they do business, the tight turnaround time means schools and conferences will have to hustle to establish the infrastructure needed to enforce their new rules.

The NCAA will pay nearly $2.8 billion in back damages over the next 10 years to athletes who competed in college at any time from 2016 through present day. Moving forward, each school can pay its athletes up to a certain limit. The annual cap is expected to start at roughly $20.5 million per school in 2025-26 and increase every year during the decade-long deal. These new payments are in addition to scholarships and other benefits the athletes already receive.

Friday’s order is a major milestone in the long push to remove outdated amateurism rules from major college sports. Since 2021, college athletes have been allowed to make money from third parties via name, image and likeness deals. Boosters quickly organized groups called collectives that used NIL money as de facto salaries for their teams, in some cases paying millions of dollars mostly to top-rated basketball and football players. Now, that money will come straight from the athletic departments.

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Comments


 
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ztakddot | June 9, 2025 at 12:10 pm

I’ve been big fan of college sports for a long time. No longer. Educating the next generation should not extend to sports. Shut down all the programs.

Yes I know that many at the highest level are completely self funded for all the athletics,. It doesn’t matter. It goes to the fundamental question what is the purpose of college in our society. In my opinion it is not to train the next QB, forward, pitcher, or goalie.


     
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    healthguyfsu in reply to ztakddot. | June 10, 2025 at 1:32 am

    I think they can be adjacent but separated. Have players take classes but not necessarily get a degree. They can come back and have a path to degree at the end of their sports eligibility if they want it.

    Take a few courses like:
    -applied physics that is catered towards understanding vectors for maneuvers in their sport and biomechanics for generating force and resistance

    -financial literacy courses (absolutely would be best for the country)

    -ethics and values courses

    -media training and communication/public speaking

    -and a few other ones of direct value to them


     
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    MontanaMilitant in reply to ztakddot. | June 10, 2025 at 9:29 am

    The core job of a university is to inculcate knowledge to young brains full of mush. ( as Rush called it). Now they are part time professional sports teams. Time for the Universities to lease out their stadiums to a new professional league which licenses the school logo and the
    “athletes” can play without the distraction of school. 4 years of playing earns your scholarship AFTER your playing career ( 99% of the idiots won’t go on to the NFL) That way professors don’t feel they can’t fail a useless student because they are the star running back. Win win!


 
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destroycommunism | June 9, 2025 at 12:11 pm

Always sounded fair

EXCEPT ITS KEEPING IN STEP WITH THE SOCIALIST AGENDA

then why arent the math wizards and science nerds getting paid????????

again…..the *students* …athletes are there to earn an education and THATTTT IS THE PAY DAY

This goes to the heart of the left trying to force women to be paid for being trad housewives

uhhh the pay is the joy of raising your children and having the home you live in and the food you eat PAID FOR BY YOUR HUSBAND

OHHH WAIT…THATS TOO NUCLEAR FAMILY WHITE PATRIARCHY SH TALK

welll thats 10000% better than the black matriarchy losing agenda of

multiple children different males as the sperm donors

taxpayers as the breadwinners


 
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destroycommunism | June 9, 2025 at 12:13 pm

the culture that shuns academics over sports is crumbling

and yet we then are forced to $upport that culture and even LIE ABOUT THE GRADES ….NO MERIT…JUST SOCIAL PROMOTIONS…or else!!!!!


 
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MajorWood | June 9, 2025 at 2:28 pm

Having watched the Welcome to Wrexham documentary and learning more about the English Football League (EFL) pyramid structure, it seems like this would be a good time for all of the Division 1 teams to be segrated into such a structure and to become independent “tenants” in those University locations as part of private companies. There are 365 D1 schools, but lets say only about 1oo actually count. These get divided into 5 tiers of 20, the initial sort being based on recent history. They will be privately funded entities financially separate from the universities, and each team in a tier will play the other 19 from August through January. Like the EFL, there will be relegation and promotion, with say the bottom 2 or 3 being sent down to a lower level, and the top 2 or 3 moving up. In a few years the initial sorting process will work itself out to a stable system. We already have a huge infrastructure present to support this. No stadiums need to be built. The best part is that it will separate the universities from the sports programs, which to be honest, only hurt academics. Because these “teams” won’t be tied to the universities except as “tenants,” there will be no age or academic limitations. It will be similar to A, AA, and AAA baseball teams, who may or may not be ownded by a corresponding higher level pro club. Players on the Columbus Buckeyes might be anywhere from 18 to 40 years old. Rather than playing for 4 years in the hopes of winning the NFL draft lottery, these players could play out their entire career by going up and down the tier system as they get better and/or age. Those cut from the NFL could then drop down and play for a lower tiered team. Similarly, there would be no draft. Some of these teams could run academies to develop players. After watching WtW for a few years, I think this was a system that the English actually got right. They could do it just as easily for basketball with each team playing the other twice a year, Of course, the college presidents are addicted to money above all else so this will never happen.


 
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destroycommunism | June 9, 2025 at 3:38 pm

so what happens when “Student athletes” who


 
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smooth | June 9, 2025 at 5:41 pm

Div 1A college sports has been wrecked for long time. Its not about the sport, or the college. Its just a business now.


 
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Danny | June 9, 2025 at 9:01 pm

State legislatures should cap the pay at something so absurdly low that this ruling will mean nothing.

College is not about partying and showing off muscles to girls it is about preparing for a career this ruling is ridiculous.


 
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artichoke | June 10, 2025 at 4:38 pm

It could enhance the whole point of going to college. Close down the sports teams they cannot afford, and save on stadiums, uniforms, insurance, coaching, all that.


 
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tbonesays | June 10, 2025 at 7:04 pm

This is a power grab from the ‘boosters’ the fans who donate to pay for a better team. The boosters had been paying the layers directly without the U getting their cut. This is the schools wrestling that away from the boosters and asserting that the schools can approve/reject any deal.

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