NCAA House Settlement Approved; College Athletes Can Be Paid

College athletics in general and Cal athletics specifically entered a new era on Friday evening when a California judge in Oakland granted approval to the NCAA’s landmark settlement of three antitrust cases.

The case, referred to as the “House settlement,” initiates a world in which colleges will be allowed to share revenue with athletes. The settlement also provides an enforcement structure led by the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC to settle issues involving payouts to athletes.

The revenue sharing with athletes is scheduled to begin July 1, and athletic departments have been preparing for this for months. Colleges are expected to be allowed to pay up to $20.5 million to its athletes, and the question for Cal is whether it can or will pay up to that limit to stay competitive at the highest level in football and basketball.

Many schools reportedly are planning to spend 75% of their revenue-sharing pot to football players, with 15% going to men’s basketball, 5% to women’s basketball and 5% to all other sports.  It’s unclear at the moment whether Cal will follow that model.  For Cal, the biggest issue may be how this settlement will affect its Olympic sports, which have been a source of pride for the Golden Bears. Also in question is how Cal will approach gender equity and Title IX issues.

Cal’s decision on how it will carry out revenue-sharing presumably will be determined at the highest administrative level of the university, and that decision probably has already been made. Much of the job in determining the payments to Golden Bears football players presumably will be made by Cal football general manager Ron Rivera, although others will be involved.

Claudia Wilken, 75, was the presiding judge in California’s Northern District who granted approval after several amendments were made to the original approval, mostly regarding the 105-player roster limit in football and the effect that would have on walk-ons.

---For complete coverage of Friday's court settlement, go to the Yahoo report provided by Ross Dellenger.

Cal football coach Justin Wilcox had said months ago that the Bears will continue to add walk-ons to its program regardless of the roster size.

The settlement could cost the NCAA and the elite conferences as much as $10 billion to be paid to the plaintiffs, who sued for more compensation for athletes.

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