Latest news with #Seeley
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Q&A: How are college sports changing in the wake of House settlement?
USC players prepare to take the field before a win over UCLA at the Rose Bowl on Nov. 23. A federal judge approved a landmark revenue-sharing settlement last week that will change college sports moving forward. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) College sports leaders and athletes were in limbo for months while waiting for a House settlement to be approved. An agreement would create clarity, better supporting college conferences and their respective universities that had been blindly preparing for the next academic year — unsure which name, image and likeness (NIL) rules they'd be playing by. Late Friday, structure and stability arrived as the House settlement became approved and official. Advertisement 'The decision on Friday is a significant step forward toward building long-term stability for college sports while protecting the system from bad actors seeking to exploit confusion and uncertainty,' Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey said during a news conference Monday morning that included commissioners of the Big Ten, Big 12, Atlantic Coast and the Pac 12 conferences. Read more: Landmark NCAA settlement decision clears way for schools to directly pay athletes The House settlement has set the stage for revenue-sharing between universities and their athletes. Claudia Wilken, the presiding judge of California's Northern District, accepted the final proposal Friday between the NCAA and the plaintiffs, current and former athletes seeking financial compensation for NIL-related backpay. The NCAA will pay close to $2.8 billion to former athletes — as many as 389,700 athletes who played between June 15, 2016, to Sept. 15, 2024 — across a 10-year period and will also implement a 10-year revenue sharing model that will allow universities to pay current athletes up to $20.5 million per year. Advertisement According to the settlement, the total is '22% of the Power Five schools' average athletic revenues each year' and the revenue-sharing cap will incrementally increase every year. What is the College Sports Commission and who is leading it? The newly-founded College Sports Commission, led by former MLB executive Bryan Seeley, was created to make sure all NIL deals comply with NCAA rules shaped by the settlement terms. The commission 'will investigate potential rules violations, make factual determinations, issue penalties where appropriate, and participate in the neutral arbitration process set forth in the settlement as necessary,' according to a news release naming Sealey as the inaugural chief executive. Advertisement Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said it was a unanimous decision among the commissioners that Seeley was the right person for the role. Tony Petitti, Big Ten commissioner, said that although he didn't work directly with Seeley during his previous stint at MLB, he saw Commissioner Rob Manfred rely on Seeley's expertise. What is 'NIL Go' and what role does it play? UCLA coach DeShaun Foster leads his players onto the field at the Rose Bowl before a loss to USC in November. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) The College Sports Commission will work alongside a clearinghouse called "NIL Go," created by accounting firm Deloitte, to approve or deny any third-party NIL agreements that exceed $600. "NIL Go" is the technology platform athletes and schools will use to report NIL agreements. Advertisement All new third-party NIL deals must now be reported to the clearinghouse starting June 7 — the day after the settlement was approved — although the platform won't launch online until June 11. How will the rules be enforced? The commission is still in the process of determining what punishment schools and athletes might face for violating NIL rules. 'We're in the process of developing some of those rules and structure,' ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said. 'Now that we have Brian [Seeley] on board, I think we'll be able to move a little bit quicker, but we want to get this right. … Nothing to date right now that we're ready to come forward with.' How will the money paid to current athletes be allocated? The ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC were the original parties targeted in lawsuits finally settled Friday's ruling. Advertisement The expectation is that about 90% of financial resources at their schools will go to revenue sports — football and men's basketball — with the other 10% being scattered between traditional Olympic sports. 'The decision was made fairly early on that we'd be in a local decision-making [process] about how rev share would work, and then all the decisions that come off of that,' Petitti said of conversations with leaders of Big Ten's schools. 'So that's where we are, giving our institutions the discretion [on how to allocate revenue-sharing funds] and they want that discretion.' What happens to NIL collectives now? Most NIL collectives — such as USC's House of Victory or UCLA's Men of Westwood — are expected to focus on marketing and connecting athletes to NIL opportunities rather than brokering agreements and directly paying them. The new revenue-sharing model makes it much easier for schools to directly pay athletes, replacing a role collectives took on in the past when schools were banned from paying athletes. How will current NIL deals be influenced by new salary cap? Contracts may need to be restructured because many — but not all — NIL deals were completed through collectives, a process that would now need to receive approval from the Deloitte clearinghouse. Advertisement When determining the proper range for NIL deals, "NIL Go" references 'market reach' and the 'local market' — two factors among many that could work in favor of UCLA and USC because Los Angeles is the second largest media market in the country and would naturally index high on market reach. What are the new roster and scholarship rules? USC men's basketball players stand during the playing of the national anthem before a game against Oregon at Galen Center on Dec. 4. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) Roster limits will influence all sports. Football teams can now feature up to 105 players, up from 85. Men's basketball rosters can feature 15 players instead of 13. Some Olympic sports, such as baseball, will see a roster-sizes decrease. In all sports, schools can offer as many scholarships as their roster limit instead of the previous NCAA scholarship limits. Whereas teams could only offer 11.7 scholarships in baseball, now universities can offer a full scholarship to all 34 players. Softball teams can now offer 25 scholarships rather than 12 in previous seasons. Women's gymnastics can offer a full 20. Advertisement This is not to say all teams will offer full rides to fill every roster spot. In all likelihood, for most Power 4 programs, there will still be walk-on players filling spots on the team. At UCLA, athletic director Martin Jarmond said he plans on keeping UCLA's scholarship limits at where it was before the settlement — 85 for football and 13 for men's basketball. The rationale, Jarmond said, is to allow UCLA to provide larger revenue-sharing totals to their athletes instead of splitting funds across full scholarship totals. USC has yet to publicly share its plans for athletic scholarships. Read more: 'A huge moment': Martin Jarmond discusses UCLA's plans after House settlement 'We have to be bold and innovative in this new world,' Jarmond told The Times on Saturday . 'UCLA has always been on the forefront and been a leader and that's not going to change. We will embrace this new era and we will continue to support our student-athletes at a championship level.' SEC schools also plan to stick with 85 football roster spots during the 2025 season, a conference spokesman told CBS Sports during the conference's recent spring meetings. How would schools outside the Power 4 be influenced by the settlement? Whereas the Power 4 conferences — and the Pac-12 — automatically opted into the House settlement to end litigation, universities outside the Power 4 will have to opt-in to the revenue-sharing agreement by a June 15 deadline. The list of schools that opt in will become public after the deadline, according to the commission's website . The commission claims that even if universities decide not to opt in to the revenue-sharing agreements, they'll still have to report NIL agreements that go beyond the $600 threshold. It's unclear how much money these schools will share with their athletes. Advertisement Schools such as Long Beach State — should it opt-in to revenue-sharing — could provide further resources to its athletes in sports where Power 4 schools may not. Men's volleyball, for example, is a perennial national championship contender for Long Beach, winning a championship in 2025. Compared to Power 4 schools that may invest most of its funds into football and men's basketball, Olympic sports could become crown jewels for smaller athletic departments. Why do some athletes oppose the settlement? UCLA's Cooper Robinson (11) and Ethan Champlin (20) celebrate during a win over Long Beach State in the 2023 NCAA men's volleyball tournament. (Julia Nikhinson / Associated Press) With likely 90% of revenue-sharing funds headed toward football and men's basketball, some athletes see the House settlement as the beginning of athletic department restructuring — with Olympic sports being placed on the sidelines in favor of spending more money on high-revenue sports. Advertisement Cooper Robinson, who won a men's volleyball national championship with UCLA in 2024, commented on UCLA Athletics' Instagram post about the settlement, asking, 'So like is this only for Football and Basketball?' This past year, Grand Canyon University announced the dismantling of its men's volleyball program. The fear for athletes, especially for a university such as UCLA that had generated $219.5 million in debt over the last six fiscal years (an amount that has been covered by the university) is that smaller-revenue programs such as men's and women's volleyball could be cut to move finances elsewhere. Jarmond has committed to preserving Olympic sports at UCLA. Does the House settlement violate Title IX federal statutes requiring equal opportunities for male and female athletes? In the years ahead, with most financial resources likely headed to football and men's basketball rather than its women's sports programs, universities may have to defend their rationale in Title IX lawsuits. The settlement does not include any language providing directive to universities for how to deal with Title IX — explicitly stating 'the Court cannot conclude that violations of Title IX will necessarily occur if and when schools choose to provide compensation and benefits to student-athletes pursuant to the Injunctive Relief Settlement.' Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
9 hours ago
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Q&A: How are college sports changing in the wake of House settlement?
College sports leaders and athletes were in limbo for months while waiting for a House settlement to be approved. An agreement would create clarity, better supporting college conferences and their respective universities that had been blindly preparing for the next academic year — unsure which name, image and likeness (NIL) rules they'd be playing by. Late Friday, structure and stability arrived as the House settlement became approved and official. 'The decision on Friday is a significant step forward toward building long-term stability for college sports while protecting the system from bad actors seeking to exploit confusion and uncertainty,' Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey said during a news conference Monday morning that included commissioners of the Big Ten, Big 12, Atlantic Coast and the Pac 12 conferences. The House settlement has set the stage for revenue-sharing between universities and their athletes. Claudia Wilken, the presiding judge of California's Northern District, accepted the final proposal Friday between the NCAA and the plaintiffs, current and former athletes seeking financial compensation for NIL-related backpay. The NCAA will pay close to $2.8 billion to former athletes — as many as 389,700 athletes who played between June 15, 2016, to Sept. 15, 2024 — across a 10-year period and will also implement a 10-year revenue sharing model that will allow universities to pay current athletes up to $20.5 million per year. According to the settlement, the total is '22% of the Power Five schools' average athletic revenues each year' and the revenue-sharing cap will incrementally increase every year. The newly-founded College Sports Commission, led by former MLB executive Bryan Seeley, was created to make sure all NIL deals comply with NCAA rules shaped by the settlement terms. The commission 'will investigate potential rules violations, make factual determinations, issue penalties where appropriate, and participate in the neutral arbitration process set forth in the settlement as necessary,' according to a news release naming Sealey as the inaugural chief executive. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said it was a unanimous decision among the commissioners that Seeley was the right person for the role. Tony Petitti, Big Ten commissioner, said that although he didn't work directly with Seeley during his previous stint at MLB, he saw Commissioner Rob Manfred rely on Seeley's expertise. The College Sports Commission will work alongside a clearinghouse called 'NIL Go,' created by accounting firm Deloitte, to approve or deny any third-party NIL agreements that exceed $600. 'NIL Go' is the technology platform athletes and schools will use to report NIL agreements. All new third-party NIL deals must now be reported to the clearinghouse starting June 7 — the day after the settlement was approved — although the platform won't launch online until June 11. The commission is still in the process of determining what punishment schools and athletes might face for violating NIL rules. 'We're in the process of developing some of those rules and structure,' ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said. 'Now that we have Brian [Seeley] on board, I think we'll be able to move a little bit quicker, but we want to get this right. … Nothing to date right now that we're ready to come forward with.' The ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC were the original parties targeted in lawsuits finally settled Friday's ruling. The expectation is that about 90% of financial resources at their schools will go to revenue sports — football and men's basketball — with the other 10% being scattered between traditional Olympic sports. 'The decision was made fairly early on that we'd be in a local decision-making [process] about how rev share would work, and then all the decisions that come off of that,' Petitti said of conversations with leaders of Big Ten's schools. 'So that's where we are, giving our institutions the discretion [on how to allocate revenue-sharing funds] and they want that discretion.' Most NIL collectives — such as USC's House of Victory or UCLA's Men of Westwood — are expected to focus on marketing and connecting athletes to NIL opportunities rather than brokering agreements and directly paying them. The new revenue-sharing model makes it much easier for schools to directly pay athletes, replacing a role collectives took on in the past when schools were banned from paying athletes. Contracts may need to be restructured because many — but not all — NIL deals were completed through collectives, a process that would now need to receive approval from the Deloitte clearinghouse. When determining the proper range for NIL deals, 'NIL Go' references 'market reach' and the 'local market' — two factors among many that could work in favor of UCLA and USC because Los Angeles is the second largest media market in the country and would naturally index high on market reach. Roster limits will influence all sports. Football teams can now feature up to 105 players, up from 85. Men's basketball rosters can feature 15 players instead of 13. Some Olympic sports, such as baseball, will see a roster-sizes decrease. In all sports, schools can offer as many scholarships as their roster limit instead of the previous NCAA scholarship limits. Whereas teams could only offer 11.7 scholarships in baseball, now universities can offer a full scholarship to all 34 players. Softball teams can now offer 25 scholarships rather than 12 in previous seasons. Women's gymnastics can offer a full 20. This is not to say all teams will offer full rides to fill every roster spot. In all likelihood, for most Power 4 programs, there will still be walk-on players filling spots on the team. At UCLA, athletic director Martin Jarmond said he plans on keeping UCLA's scholarship limits at where it was before the settlement — 85 for football and 13 for men's basketball. The rationale, Jarmond said, is to allow UCLA to provide larger revenue-sharing totals to their athletes instead of splitting funds across full scholarship totals. USC has yet to publicly share its plans for athletic scholarships. 'We have to be bold and innovative in this new world,' Jarmond told The Times on Saturday. 'UCLA has always been on the forefront and been a leader and that's not going to change. We will embrace this new era and we will continue to support our student-athletes at a championship level.' SEC schools also plan to stick with 85 football roster spots during the 2025 season, a conference spokesman told CBS Sports during the conference's recent spring meetings. Whereas the Power 4 conferences — and the Pac-12 — automatically opted into the House settlement to end litigation, universities outside the Power 4 will have to opt-in to the revenue-sharing agreement by a June 15 deadline. The list of schools that opt in will become public after the deadline, according to the commission's website. The commission claims that even if universities decide not to opt in to the revenue-sharing agreements, they'll still have to report NIL agreements that go beyond the $600 threshold. It's unclear how much money these schools will share with their athletes. Schools such as Long Beach State — should it opt-in to revenue-sharing — could provide further resources to its athletes in sports where Power 4 schools may not. Men's volleyball, for example, is a perennial national championship contender for Long Beach, winning a championship in 2025. Compared to Power 4 schools that may invest most of its funds into football and men's basketball, Olympic sports could become crown jewels for smaller athletic departments. With likely 90% of revenue-sharing funds headed toward football and men's basketball, some athletes see the House settlement as the beginning of athletic department restructuring — with Olympic sports being placed on the sidelines in favor of spending more money on high-revenue sports. Cooper Robinson, who won a men's volleyball national championship with UCLA in 2024, commented on UCLA Athletics' Instagram post about the settlement, asking, 'So like is this only for Football and Basketball?' This past year, Grand Canyon University announced the dismantling of its men's volleyball program. The fear for athletes, especially for a university such as UCLA that had generated $219.5 million in debt over the last six fiscal years (an amount that has been covered by the university) is that smaller-revenue programs such as men's and women's volleyball could be cut to move finances elsewhere. Jarmond has committed to preserving Olympic sports at UCLA. In the years ahead, with most financial resources likely headed to football and men's basketball rather than its women's sports programs, universities may have to defend their rationale in Title IX lawsuits. The settlement does not include any language providing directive to universities for how to deal with Title IX — explicitly stating 'the Court cannot conclude that violations of Title IX will necessarily occur if and when schools choose to provide compensation and benefits to student-athletes pursuant to the Injunctive Relief Settlement.'
San Francisco Chronicle
a day ago
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
College sports commissioners laud $2.8B antitrust settlement, call for Congress to act
Conference commissioners lauded a judge's approval of a $2.8 billion antitrust lawsuit settlement as a means for bringing stability and fairness to an out-of-control college athletics industry but acknowledged there would be growing pains in implementing its terms. In a 30-minute virtual news conference Monday, commissioners of the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC renewed their call for congressional action to supplement and even codify the settlement and emphasized that cooperation at every level of college sports would be necessary to make it work. They said it was too early to address how violators of rules surrounding revenue sharing and name, image and likeness agreements would be punished and noted newly hired College Sports Commission CEO Bryan Seeley would play a major role in determining penalties. The new era of college athletics has arrived after U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken gave final approval Friday night to what's known as House vs. NCAA. Beginning July 1, each school can share up to about $20.5 million with their athletes and third-party NIL deals worth $600 or more will be analyzed to make sure they pay appropriate 'market value' for the services being provided by athletes. Some of the topics addressed Monday: Binding conferences to terms The conferences drafted a document that would bind institutions to enforcement policies even if their state laws are contradictory. It would require schools to waive their right to pursue legal challenges against the CSC. It also would exempt the commission from lawsuits from member schools over enforcement decisions, instead offering arbitration as the main settlement option. Consequences for not signing the agreement would include risking the loss of league membership and participation against other teams from the Power Four conferences. Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark said the document remains a work in progress but that he's gotten no pushback from his schools. 'I look to get that executed here in short order,' he said, "and know it will be very necessary for all the conferences to execute as well.' Directives on revenue sharing There has been no directive given to individual schools on how to determine the allocation of revenue-sharing payments, commissioners said. It's widely acknowledged that athletes in football and basketball are expected to receive the majority of the money. 'I know for all five of us no one is forgetting about their Olympic sports and continuing to make sure we've invested a high level for all of our sports,' ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said. College Sports Commission CEO The commissioners said Seeley, as Major League Baseball executive vice president of legal and operations, was uniquely qualified to lead the CSC, which is charged with making sure schools adhere to the rules. 'Culture doesn't change overnight," Seeley told The Athletic over the weekend. "I don't expect that to happen overnight, but I do think that the schools that have signed on to the settlement want rules and want rules to be enforced. Otherwise they wouldn't have signed on to the settlement. I think student-athletes want a different system. So I think there is a desire for rules enforcement. There's a desire for transparency.' Sankey said Seeley is well-versed in areas of implementation, development and adjustment of rules and in NIL disputes requiring arbitration. Yormark said: 'You want people not to run away from a situation but to run to a situation. He ran here, and he's very passionate to make a difference and to course correct what's been going on in the industry.' Skepticism about enforcement Deloitte's 'NIL Go' program and LBI Software will track NIL deals and revenue-sharing contracts, and the commissioners shot down skepticism about the ability of those tools to enforce terms of the settlement. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said football and basketball coaches he spoke with in February were unanimous in wanting regulation. 'They have the responsibility to make what they asked for work,' he said. Congressional action NCAA President Charlie Baker has been pushing Congress for a limited antitrust exemption that would protect college sports from another series of lawsuits, and the commissioners want a uniform federal NIL law that would supersede wide-ranging state laws. 'We're not going to have Final Fours and College Football Playoffs and College World Series with 50 different standards,' Sankey said, 'so that's a starting point.' Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti said the willingness of administrators to modernize the college athletics model should prompt federal lawmakers to move on codifying the settlement. Sankey's meeting with Trump Sankey confirmed a Yahoo Sports report that he and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua played golf with President Donald Trump on Sunday. Sankey said he appreciates Trump's interest in college sports and that it was helpful to share perspectives on the path forward. Trump reportedly considered a presidential commission on college sports earlier this year. Sankey declined to disclose details of their talks.
Fox Sports
a day ago
- Business
- Fox Sports
College sports commissioners laud $2.8B antitrust settlement, call for Congress to act
Associated Press Conference commissioners lauded a judge's approval of a $2.8 billion antitrust lawsuit settlement as a means for bringing stability and fairness to an out-of-control college athletics industry but acknowledged there would be growing pains in implementing its terms. In a 30-minute virtual news conference Monday, commissioners of the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC renewed their call for congressional action to supplement and even codify the settlement and emphasized that cooperation at every level of college sports would be necessary to make it work. They said it was too early to address how violators of rules surrounding revenue sharing and name, image and likeness agreements would be punished and noted newly hired College Sports Commission CEO Bryan Seeley would play a major role in determining penalties. The new era of college athletics has arrived after U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken gave final approval Friday night to what's known as House vs. NCAA. Beginning July 1, each school can share up to about $20.5 million with their athletes and third-party NIL deals worth $600 or more will be analyzed to make sure they pay appropriate 'market value' for the services being provided by athletes. Some of the topics addressed Monday: Binding conferences to terms The conferences drafted a document that would bind institutions to enforcement policies even if their state laws are contradictory. It would require schools to waive their right to pursue legal challenges against the CSC. It also would exempt the commission from lawsuits from member schools over enforcement decisions, instead offering arbitration as the main settlement option. Consequences for not signing the agreement would include risking the loss of league membership and participation against other teams from the Power Four conferences. Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark said the document remains a work in progress but that he's gotten no pushback from his schools. 'I look to get that executed here in short order,' he said, "and know it will be very necessary for all the conferences to execute as well.' Directives on revenue sharing There has been no directive given to individual schools on how to determine the allocation of revenue-sharing payments, commissioners said. It's widely acknowledged that athletes in football and basketball are expected to receive the majority of the money. 'I know for all five of us no one is forgetting about their Olympic sports and continuing to make sure we've invested a high level for all of our sports,' ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said. College Sports Commission CEO The commissioners said Seeley, as Major League Baseball executive vice president of legal and operations, was uniquely qualified to lead the CSC, which is charged with making sure schools adhere to the rules. 'Culture doesn't change overnight," Seeley told The Athletic over the weekend. "I don't expect that to happen overnight, but I do think that the schools that have signed on to the settlement want rules and want rules to be enforced. Otherwise they wouldn't have signed on to the settlement. I think student-athletes want a different system. So I think there is a desire for rules enforcement. There's a desire for transparency.' Sankey said Seeley is well-versed in areas of implementation, development and adjustment of rules and in NIL disputes requiring arbitration. Yormark said: 'You want people not to run away from a situation but to run to a situation. He ran here, and he's very passionate to make a difference and to course correct what's been going on in the industry.' Skepticism about enforcement Deloitte's 'NIL Go' program and LBI Software will track NIL deals and revenue-sharing contracts, and the commissioners shot down skepticism about the ability of those tools to enforce terms of the settlement. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said football and basketball coaches he spoke with in February were unanimous in wanting regulation. 'They have the responsibility to make what they asked for work,' he said. Congressional action NCAA President Charlie Baker has been pushing Congress for a limited antitrust exemption that would protect college sports from another series of lawsuits, and the commissioners want a uniform federal NIL law that would supersede wide-ranging state laws. 'We're not going to have Final Fours and College Football Playoffs and College World Series with 50 different standards,' Sankey said, 'so that's a starting point.' Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti said the willingness of administrators to modernize the college athletics model should prompt federal lawmakers to move on codifying the settlement. Sankey's meeting with Trump Sankey confirmed a Yahoo Sports report that he and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua played golf with President Donald Trump on Sunday. Sankey said he appreciates Trump's interest in college sports and that it was helpful to share perspectives on the path forward. Trump reportedly considered a presidential commission on college sports earlier this year. Sankey declined to disclose details of their talks. 'I think those are best left for the moment on the golf course,' he said. ___ AP college sports: recommended in this topic
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
5 House settlement changes college fans will notice immediately
It's a new dawn in the world of college athletics. On Friday night the long-awaited $2.8 billion House settlement was approved, officially ushering in an era where schools can directly pay players. Immediately after the landmark agreement, a number of new entities and executives emerged to lead college sports into the future. While this is all expected to play out in the coming months and years, there is already A LOT of moving pieces. Advertisement You can read all about what's included in the settlement here, but if you're looking for a quick breakdown of some of the more immediate changes, we've got you covered. Here are the people, terms and regulations you need to know about. The College Sports Commission Jun 4, 2024; Eugene, OR, USA; A NCAA logo flag at Hayward Field. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports Say goodbye to the NCAA's wildly unpopular enforcement and penalty process, and say hello to its replacement: the newly-created College Sports Commission. You're going to be hearing about it a lot when it officially begins operations on July 1, 2025. Here's what the new oversight authority will be in charge of policing, per USA TODAY's Steve Berkowitz: ▶Rules-making. ▶Managing the NIL Go system, an electronic system that athletes will be required to use to report the details of their NIL deals with entities other than their schools. ▶Figuring out how to determine the legitimacy of those deals, and how to deal with appeals by athletes, who — under the settlement — can seek arbitration if they want to challenge a determination that a deal is not legitimate relative to having a 'valid business purpose' and being within 'a reasonable range of compensation.' ▶Forming a new regulatory and enforcement entity that will be led newly named chief executive officer Bryan Seeley. According to the announcement of his hiring on June 6, Seeley "will build out the organization's investigative and enforcement teams and oversee all of its ongoing operations and stakeholder relationships. … Seeley and his team will also be responsible for enforcement of the new rules around revenue sharing, student-athlete third-party name image and likeness (NIL) deals, and roster limits. The Commission will investigate potential rules violations, make factual determinations, issue penalties where appropriate, and participate in the neutral arbitration process set forth in the settlement as necessary." Advertisement Speaking of enforcement, the CSC is expected to resolve any investigations within 45 days — a major shift from the long, drawn out NCAA investigations fans have come to expect. The CSC's CEO can be the judge, jury and executioner here with the ability to impose fines and penalties. College Sports Commission CEO Bryan Seeley For all intents and purposes, Seeley is the new top dog when it comes to college sports compliance. He was hired by the four power conference commissioners (ACC's Jim Phillips, Big Ten's Tony Petitti, Big 12's Brett Yormark and SEC's Greg Sankey). So here's the skinny, per ESPN's Jeff Passan and Pete Thamel: Seeley is MLB's executive vice president, legal & operations, and he brings investigative experience, which will be key in this role. In the post-settlement era, the NCAA will no longer be in charge of the enforcement of most rules. (It will still maintain purview over things like academics, but it will not patrol benefits.) The CSC is the new era's enforcement arm that will have final say in doling out punishments and deciding when rules have been broken. It's one of the most important roles in this new era, as the industry has been craving some type of guidance since the advent of name, imagine and likeness has made the descriptor "wild, wild west" a common one in regard to the generally unregulated college sports industry. In a formal announcement, Seeley's job is described as having to "build out the organization's investigative and enforcement teams and oversee all of its ongoing operations and stakeholder relationships." Per the release: "Seeley and his team will also be responsible for enforcement of the new rules around revenue sharing, student-athlete third-party name image and likeness (NIL) deals, and roster limits." Advertisement Some more quick facts about Seeley: 42 years old Joined MLB as Vice President, Investigations & Deputy General Counsel in 2014 Served as Assistant U.S. Attorney in Washington D.C. from 2006-2014, prosecuting white-collar crimes, fraud and corruption Attended Princeton University and Harvard Law School NIL GO Mar 22, 2025; Birmingham AL, USA; LSU gymnast LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne walks with teammates to a competition area and gestures to fans during Session 2 of the SEC Gymnastics Championship at Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama. LSU won the event to claim the SEC crown. No, this is not the latest streaming service. It's a clearinghouse established by Deloitte to handle number-crunching and maintain compliance between schools, athletes and third parties. It will also fall under the CSC's purview. Per ESPN's Pete Thamel and Jeff Passan: LBi Software and accounting firm Deloitte have been lined up to handle salary cap management and to manage the clearinghouse for NIL. Those NIL deals will be outside of the revenue share directly from schools, and how they are approved has been the focus of much conversation around college sports. The clearinghouse that Deloitte has established will be known as NIL Go, which will be used to verify whether deals between athletes and boosters or associated entities are for a valid business purpose rather than a recruiting incentive. Whether or not a school opts in to provide NIL payments to athletes, any Division I athletes who signs an NIL deal worth $600 or more will have to go through NIL GO. Salary Cap And Roster Limits Michigan players huddle during warm up ahead of the Rose Bowl game against Alabama at Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, Calif., on Monday, Jan. 1, 2024. Yep, it's happening in college sports. Schools will start with a $20.5 million cap that's set to increase by four percent annually, with a notable caveat, per Berkowitz: In Years 4, 7 and 10, new baselines would be established based on the defined set of Power Five athletics department revenues. However, under certain circumstances connected to the timing and value of media rights contracts, the plaintiffs' lawyers have two options during the 10-year settlement period to have new baselines set more quickly. Advertisement The settlement was temporarily help up in court by the issue of roster limits, as programs already began cutting walk-ons and other players in anticipation of the salary cap. That was resolved through a "grandfathering" agreement that will delay some roster limits if players were already promised a spot. Per CBS Sports: [U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken] asked attorneys to craft a plan to allow current players to be "grandfathered in" with the new roster limits. The NCAA, power conferences and the plaintiffs in the lawsuit instead offered a compromise: schools have the option to keep current players on their rosters and temporarily exceed new limits until their eligibility expires. The new roster limits were expected to lead to the cutting of nearly 5,000 athletes from teams across the NCAA's 43 sponsored sports. Some sports will increase roster limits compared to previous years, but many will be trimmed despite offering unlimited scholarships within those new thresholds. Football rosters will shrink to 105 players, resulting in schools cutting more than 20 players, though most schools are expected to exceed those limits by grandfathering in current athletes. March 1 Deadline For Non-Power 5 Schools Mar 20, 2025; Wichita, KS, USA; Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Ben Gregg (33) celebrates with guard Ryan Nembhard (0) and guard Nolan Hickman (11) after a play in the first half of a first round men's NCAA Tournament game against the Georgia Bulldogs at Intrust Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images The start of March has now become one of the most crucial days on the sports calendar as non-Power 5 schools will have to declare by then whether or not they are opting into revenue sharing for the following academic year. Per the CSC: All current members of the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC are participating in the new revenue sharing model overseen by the College Sports Commission. Division I schools from other conferences can choose to 'opt in' to revenue sharing and must formally do so by June 15, 2025, at which point a full list of participating schools will be made public. Each year, schools outside of the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC will have the option to opt in to or out of revenue sharing. These schools must notify the NCAA if they will opt in to (or opt out of) revenue sharing for the upcoming academic year by March 1 of each year. In order to opt out, an institution must have fulfilled any relevant obligations to student-athletes and all revenue sharing - or incremental increases in scholarship - must cease. It is important to note that regardless of whether an institution opts in to revenue sharing, all Division I student-athletes will be subject to the new rules and requirements around third-party NIL deals. Advertisement This is a whole new world of college athletics and there's a lot to process here. We'll continue to break down all the developments over the coming months (and years). This article originally appeared on For The Win: 5 House settlement changes college fans will notice immediately
