NCAA settlement allows athlete salaries in college sports
After a settlement in June, universities will now have a $20.5 million salary cap to divide between all of their student-athletes.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A historic shift in college athletics is underway following a landmark June settlement in House v. NCAA, which will now allow college athletes to be paid directly by their universities — a first in NCAA history.
Under the terms of the settlement, each university will have a salary cap of $20.5 million to divide among all of its athletic programs. Two sports attorneys from Wright Lindsey & Jennings law firm in Little Rock say this marks the official end of amateurism in college sports.
“This new salary cap — it’s officially an end to amateurism in college sports,” said attorney Collins Hickman. “So this is the first time in history that a school will be on the one side of the contract and a student athlete will be on the other.”
With this fundamental change, schools are beginning to adopt professional sports structures, including the use of general managers, to manage rosters and make salary decisions.
“Those people are in charge of forming the roster,” Hickman said. “At the end of the day, they have a spreadsheet out with the salary cap on it, and they have to make those hard decisions — like, we want to pay X player this — and that has to translate and fit into the cap.”
As college programs adapt to this semi-professional model, sports agents and legal teams will also play a much larger role.
“There are a lot of times there’s confusion, especially with people who don’t understand the law the way lawyers do,” said attorney Antwan Phillips. “Part of our job as lawyers is to make sure that our clients understand what is happening, what is not happening, and what this means for them.”
According to Phillips, early projections show the majority of these university funds will go to football.
“There are some numbers that Collins and I have seen where we talked about where 75% of that is going to football,” he said. “And then depending on who you talk to or what you look at, you see about 15 to 18% being split between men’s and women’s basketball.”
Arkansas’ newly hired general manager, Remy Cofield, said Thursday the move could help the Razorbacks remain competitive with larger schools like Texas. But Phillips noted powerhouse programs will still have the edge.
“There’s still going to be some oil company in Texas or car dealership in Texas who’s going to find a way to get Arch Manning another million dollars,” Phillips said.
While the new system allows direct pay from schools, athletes will still be able to sign deals with third-party companies like Walmart and Tyson — continuing the Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) opportunities that have existed since 2021.
The NCAA settlement is expected to take full effect in the coming year, reshaping the landscape of college athletics as we know it.