NCAA settlement fallout: McNeese has NIL plan as it enters new economic era

American Press

a day ago

The term student-athlete died on Friday.
For years, the NCAA has attempted to distinguish its players from professionals, emphasizing that they are students first. That mirage now seems lost forever.
U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken gave final approval to the landmark settlement in the House vs. NCAA antitrust lawsuit, which had been ongoing for five years, ending nearly a year of negotiations and revisions. The $2.8 billion, 10-year settlement will pay past players for missed name, image and likeness opportunities and allow colleges to pay current players directly starting July 1.
As schools of all levels throughout the country scramble to figure out what's next, McNeese State officials say they are ready for the future.
'It's a new and exciting time for college athletics,' McNeese Director of Athletics Heath Schroyer said. 'My staff and I have been working for over a year to prepare. We've considered how these changes will impact McNeese athletics and also how we can best position ourselves.'
Schroyer said McNeese will buy into the program, while other Football Championship Subdivision and Southland Conference schools will consider opting out. Houston Christian is likely one of those.
'We've decided to opt in and bring our collective/NIL in-house and participate in revenue sharing,' he said. 'We'll keep the same scholarship numbers this first year for each sport. During this first year, we will evaluate both our financial situation and the national landscape.'
With the NIL becoming entirely in-house, the Ranch Collective, which previously ran the program, will transition into a new role, said Keifer Ackley, assistant AD for NIL and Student-Athlete at McNeese.
'This will allow us to streamline the process,' Ackley said. 'This will make us more transparent.'
The Ranch Collective is likely to transition into a more marketing-focused tool for the university, he said.
For now, it appears all programs will remain, but this is a fluid situation on all levels, and McNeese's goal, Schroyer said, remains to move up to the Football Bowl Subdivision level if the opportunity arises. There is also no telling what will come next as lawsuits are expected to be filed over a variety of concerns.
'Sometimes these decisions aren't popular with everyone, and that's OK,' Schroyer said. 'I get it. The only constant in life is change; college athletics have undergone significant changes in the last few years, and this trend is likely to continue.'
NCAA President Charlie Baker wrote an open letter after the settlement:
'Approving the agreement reached by the NCAA, the defendant conferences and student-athletes in the settlement opens a pathway to begin stabilizing college sports,' Baker wrote. 'This new framework that enables schools to provide direct financial benefits to student-athletes and establishes clear and specific rules to regulate third-party NIL agreements marks a huge step forward for college sports.'
Earlier this spring, Baker spoke to McNeese athletes about the future of college sports and seemed shocked by the number of players who had transferred to the school.
As part of the settlement, McNeese, along with the other FCS schools, will be required to pay $180,000 this year and between $25,000 and $300,000, which the NCAA will deduct from the funds it provides to the school.
Helping to pay for that will be a 12-game football schedule the FCS is expected to add in future years. The final decision on the extra game will be made in the last week of June.
The settlement is a victory for power conference schools, which easily have the resources to cover the money and compete in what is now an unlimited bidding war.
'The approval of the House settlement agreement represents a significant milestone for the meaningful support of our student-athletes and a pivotal step toward establishing long-term sustainability for college sports, two of the Southeastern Conference's top priorities,' SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said. 'As the journey to modernize collegiate sports continues, we remain focused on identifying and implementing innovative opportunities for our student-athletes across all sports while maintaining the core values that make collegiate athletics uniquely meaningful.'
While it's not clear how it will all play out, McNeese says it expects to pivot with whatever comes next.