By Dylan Lux / The Jambar
Waves of change have washed over the college sports landscape in recent years, as the NCAA reincorporated name, image and likeness deals, and with a recent settlement of nearly $3 billion — the tide is high.
Judge Claudia Wilken granted preliminary approval of the House v. NCAA settlement Oct. 7, 2024. The final approval hearing was April 7, but Wilken elected to decline making a final ruling on the settlement after hearing objections.
All college sports await with anticipation, as the settlement has the ability to create a nationwide shift for NCAA athletes.
Two major changes will happen within the NCAA if the settlement is passed:
- NCAA universities that opt into the settlement will be permitted to compensate their own student-athletes directly.
- Current and former student-athletes who competed from 2016 through Sept. 15, 2024 are eligible for NIL back pay.
Almost $2.6 billion of the $2.8 billion settlement would go towards the back pay to student-athletes. Universities will not get a say in the amount, but instead will be decided by a distribution plan by plaintiffs in the House v. NCAA case.
Former Louisiana State University gymnast and social media personality, Olivia Dunne, spoke against the NCAA’s backpay, saying that she was undervalued.
In her statement during the April 7 hearing, Dunne spoke how her projected earnings from the settlement includes “flawed data” that wasn’t accurate of her current value, which led her to opting into the settlement.
“Those projecting have underestimated my actual earnings, I had to opt in just to submit up-to-date data,” Dunne stated. “This settlement doesn’t come close to recognizing the value I lost.”
Dunne is the highest-valued female athlete in the country. As of April 8, On3 valued Dunne at $4.1 million in NIL value. That makes her the fourth-highest valued student-athlete in the country.
As for mid-major programs, such as Youngstown State University, a different component of the settlement is in the foreground — roster limitations.
Ron Strollo, executive director of Intercollegiate Athletics at YSU, talked about the implications that roster cuts would bring to the university.
“Some of our coaches are having very difficult conversations with some of our student-athletes because before we were able to take walk ons and give students spots and now we’re more in the mode of cutting,” Strollo said. “That’s not what we brought the student athletes here for.”
Strollo also spoke on the high school students that may not get an opportunity to compete at the Division I level.
“I really feel for a lot of the high school kids that normally would have opportunities to be recruited and have an opportunity to be on Division I rosters,” Strollo said. “Those opportunities, although still there, are a lot smaller.”
Other universities that are in Power Conferences, such as the Atlantic Coast Conference or Big Ten Conference, will be granted the ability to take upwards of $20 million to pay student-athletes.
For mid-major conferences, Strollo said there’s no extra money to be given.
“When you hear [about] revenue sharing, that’s for the power schools that are receiving multi-million dollar contracts for TV rights and stuff like that,” Strollo said. “They’re now allowed to take $20 million of that and set it aside and have it directed towards the student-athletes, which is great for those kids. For us, there’s no extra dollars there.”
If the House v. NCAA settlement passes, it would eliminate the Penguin Collective at YSU, as NIL funds would come through the university.
Strollo said the collective’s help has been invaluable to the university, but with the changes the settlement will bring, it will most likely mark the end of the collective.
“We could not have had a better partner in Tim Petree and that crew at the collective. They’ve put a ton of work into this without making a dollar and they’ve done it because they’re Penguins,” Strollo said. “But now that we’re able to bring [the funds] in-house, I would expect that the collective will probably go away.”
In 2023, Youngstown State was the top-earning university in the Horizon League, with $540,000 in NIL disclosures. YSU was the highest-valued, mid-major men’s basketball program, and the 13th-highest valued men’s basketball programs of the universities that use OpenDorse.
As the collegiate sports world continues to evolve, universities all over the country will be impacted. Youngstown State will face changes that are sure to alter its athletics for years to come.
