College athletics entered a new era on 1 July 2025 as the NCAA’s antitrust settlement in House v. NCAA took effect, allowing Division I schools to compensate student-athletes for the first time in the organisation’s 119-year history. The agreement ends the formal ban on direct pay and limits each institution to a maximum of $20.5 million in annual athlete compensation, an amount tied to 22 percent of average Power 4 revenues and recalculated every three years. Oversight of the model shifts to the independent College Sports Commission, which will police compliance with the cap and work with Deloitte’s NIL Go clearinghouse to vet endorsement contracts worth more than $600 for fair-market value. The five power conferences automatically join the framework; other Division I members may opt in, gaining the right to pay athletes but also accepting the new enforcement regime. Schools are racing to offset the added expense as they and the NCAA begin paying nearly $2.8 billion in back damages over the next decade. Louisiana State University said it hopes to raise “multiple millions of dollars a year” by selling jersey patch advertisements across all sports, pending NCAA approval, underscoring a wider scramble for fresh commercial inventory and multimedia-rights partnerships. Public institutions, notably in California and Arizona, have warned that revenue sharing could strain athletic budgets and push costs onto taxpayers or students if new income sources fall short. Lawyers and administrators also expect fresh litigation over Title IX equity and the legality of the compensation cap, suggesting further upheaval even as the sport moves away from its amateur past.
LSU is planning to sell jersey patch sponsorships, per @NOLAnews. Pending NCAA approval, the jersey ads would generate “multiple millions of dollars a year" for the Tigers. https://t.co/0rSpeiHmb7
Opinion: Finally, Arizona schools will pay student athletes. But it could cost you | Opinion https://t.co/RXo74rVMm4
Since everybody is talking about selling jersey sponsorships slots right now, from today's Extra Points... https://t.co/A56UItuT4z https://t.co/yKNPFwdd6l