USC Trojans Shares Plan For Direct Payments, NIL Approval After House Settlement

“Since the preliminary approval of the house settlement in Fall 2024, USC Athletics leadership has worked diligently to develop a road map to ensure we win the new era of college athletics. With today’s final approval of the settlement, we are ready to invest even more in our student-athletes to the maximum allowable levels, and we look forward to what comes next.”

The annual cap will be divided with football receiving 75 percent, men’s basketball receiving 15 percent, women’s basketball receiving 5 percent, and the remainder of sports receiving five percent. There is an expectation that many blueblooded schools will allocate closer to 90 percent to football.

The USC Trojans have been one of the most successful schools with the addition of NIL. When USC coach Lincoln Riley was initially hired, the Trojans were behind and it showed with the lack of recruiting success. Now, the USC Trojans hold the No. 1 ranked recruiting class of 2026 and it is still growing.

USC took advantage of the delay between the House vs. NCAA settlement, landing big-time recruits. One of the more recent examples is the commitment from five-star tight end Mark Bowman, who is projected to earn $8-10 million over his USC career. USC has embraced the new world of college football and will continue to do so with the new approval.

“I know everybody’s got an opinion on NIL, rev share, and the settlement. I get it. There’s all that stuff. Listen, we just sat through 10 days of Big Ten meetings where that’s all we’re listening to, but despite all that, we still have one of the greatest products in the greatest sport in the world,” Riley said on “Always College Football" with ESPN's Greg McElroy.

Things will pick up quickly following the approval as on July 6, athletes will begin receiving direct payments. In addition to directly paying athletes, the NCAA will pay nearly $2.8 billion in back damages to athletes who competed at the collegiate level since 2016. This will be done over the next 10 years.

One element of the new agreement that is set to be introduced is roster limits. The proposed rosters include football at 105, men’s and women’s basketball at 25, baseball at 34, men’s and women’s soccer at 28, softball at 25, and volleyball at 18.

“This new framework that enables schools to provide direct financial benefits to student-athletes and establishes clear and specific rules to regular third-party NIL agreements marks a huge step forward for college sports,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a letter. “Together, we can use this new beginning to launch college sports into the future.”

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