This settlement is just the beginning of another wave of changes. I doubt it will fix the mess of NIL and the transfer portal.

If all this money for paying players is focused on basketball and football, you can bet it’s only a matter of time before all the women activists start crying foul and sue for equal pay like USWNT did. And they will win because it’s politically correct.

It’s interesting that this settlement focused on players sharing in revenue created by their sports so non revenue sports were not a focus. The reality is that basketball and football revenue is the reason most schools are able to have other sports, especially women’s sports since almost all are money losers. Non revenue sports may become an unaffordable luxury.

If most athletic departments take $20 mm out of their budgets for players they are $20mm more in debt every year in perpetuity. The math doesn’t work except for a few schools.

I hope they get rid of collectives. If players and their agents are forced to negotiate their own endorsements with individual companies like other professionals do and not expect the school or some collective to do it for the them, most players will not get anywhere close to what they get now. NIL needs to be a players responsibility and not the school. If boosters pay players on top of what schools pay, it’s going to get even worse. College sports needs financial parity.

So buckle up! College sports as we’ve know it is now gone. Who knows what it will be going forward. But it’s going to look much different. Gone are the days of amateur competition. Now it will be all about $$$$$$$$$.