A new era for big-time college sports could be around the corner. And a lot depends on the NCAA vs House settlement. It revolves around a sweeping reimagination of how high-level college athletics should work. Under the umbrella of this settlement would come team sizes governed by roster limits rather than scholarships.

Also, it includes a third-party clearinghouse for marketing deals. However, right now, the SEC, Big 10, and the powerhouse programs are obsessing over one figure. The NCAA had an incentive to settle because it could have owed as much as $20 billion in damages had it lost the House case. It’s obvious that every sport is not going to get an equal share. That’s when analyst John Talty sketches a picture of how the schools have tapped into a panic mode.  

A panic spreads across NCAA programs with the $20 million figure

The NCAA vs House allows for a revenue-sharing plan. With this, the programs will be permitted to start directly paying the players. Going by the sources, the bar has been set at roughly $20.5 million, which is likely to increase on an annual basis. The exact amount will be dependent on 22 percent of the Power 5 schools’ average athletic revenue. Meanwhile, going by NCAA vs House lawsuit proceedings, scholarship limits will be replaced by roster limits. But no matter what the final result will be, the NCAA schools can’t hit the snooze button as they are too perturbed to find out about their share of revenue out of the $20.5 million pool. On April 7, 247 Sports hosted ex-SEC insider and now national college sports writer Talty. 

The host had a question for the reporter. “So how is everything that’s happening in the courtroom today? And coming through with this House settlement. Where will we see some regulation come out of this?” That’s when Talty exposed the dark reality. “What’s funny is that people are asking for regulation but also making plans to try to get around that regulation, right? That’s just part of what is college sports where everyone wants it to be kind of an even playing field. And yet you have these collectives and other people involved that are going to try to do everything they can to allow their school to have an edge over the others.” 

The vast majority of schools are having to figure out where those revenue share funds will come from. Tennessee, for instance, is raising ticket and concession prices, tagging it as a “talent fee.” Other NCAA schools are fundraising campaigns and other ways to find a cut that can be redirected toward the near-$20.5 million cap. Going by the latest remuneration structure, 75 percent of the $20.5 million figure will go to football. 15-20 percent to men’s basketball, 5-10 percent to women’s basketball, and whatever is left to Olympic and non-revenue sports. The frustration got 10x more for NCAA schools as Big East as Talty shared, “Can devote because they just care about basketball not having to pay that 75% to football.” Now, will this lead to a rift among the NCAA schools – power and non-power conferences?    

How are power conferences trying to take away the power from the NCAA? 

Definitely! That’s because it will be a smooth ride for the richest programs to allocate revenue share and additional scholarships. For instance, the Power 4 schools are already at an advantage. They are lucky to have tens of millions of dollars a year in television revenue. On the other hand, think about schools like Ohio State or Texas. It’s easier for them to earmark that $20.5 million a year and orchestrate outside marketing deals for their star players.

While this might create an atmosphere of terror among the schools, the NCAA itself is not relieved from getting terrified. It’s obvious from all the proceedings that with every passing day, the NCAA is losing its power. Slowly, they are losing the weightage as a governing body. The power conferences that came off as the defendants in the massive antitrust lawsuits are on a mission to create a new enforcement body outside the NCAA.

The role of this new body? To look after the NIL deals between athletes and third parties that don’t fall under the revenue-sharing agreements between schools and athletes. As per the latest reports, Deloitte has been assigned with the charge to assess the fair-market value of those deals. This would also give the body a green pass to financial rules related to the so-called cap, investigations into possible violations, and handing down penalties. Now, this has been an area that the NCAA has struggled with a lot in the past. Yes, the NCAA is losing its power, but it’s not going away.