College athletes can be paid by schools.
The pretense is gone. Big time college sports is finally a totally professional endeavor. The stars of the show, the college performers, can legally be paid by colleges and universities. Because Judge Claudia Wilken approved an agreement between the National Collegiate Athletic Association and all Division I athletes, college sports amateurism is dead. The House versus NCAA settlement marks the ending of three separate federal antitrust lawsuits that claimed the NCAA was illegally limiting the money making ability of the stars of the college show, the athletes. The NCAA, which is the governing body of major college sports, will pay nearly $2.8 billion in back damages over the next 10 years to athletes who performed between 2016 and June 6th, 2025. College players have been able to sell their names, images and likenesses since 2021 and some players have been able to get millions of dollars in endorsement money or payments from boosters. Now colleges can bid for players as well. The colleges can use around $20.5 million annually to pay players and that figure can increase.
The checks for the players will start going out on July 1st. Money handed to college athletes has been around longer than the term “student-athlete” which was coined in the 1950s by the NCAA to get out of playing workman’s compensation if an athlete was severely injured or died from injuries suffered during an athletic event. There have been stories of golden handshakes between boosters and athletes or a booster creating a you don’t have to show up job for an athlete. The schools’ heads thought in most cases an athletic scholarship and a chance to get a college degree in exchange for a player’s services was enough of a deal. The charade of amateurism has always been an NCAA hallmark despite the business being purely professional. Amateurism is gone.
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Judge Claudia Wilken
