College athletics is undergoing major changes once again, with the latest developments stemming from the approved House Settlement last week.
This agreement will greatly impact Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rules, player transfers, and more. Programs that haven’t proactively adapted to these expected changes are already falling behind.
The Ohio State athletic department appears to be well-prepared as a new chapter in college sports begins. With athletic departments now required to distribute funds directly to players, they must figure out how to allocate about $20.5 million among all the athletes on their campuses.
It’s simply not feasible to pay every athlete in each program equally, so Ohio State plans to start with four specific sports.
OSU Athletic Director Ross Bjork spoke with the media on Thursday and explained what this House Settlement with the NCAA entails, including details about revenue distribution.
Bjork mentioned that the Buckeye athletic department will start making payments to football and both men’s and women’s basketball teams, along with women’s volleyball.
All of the $20.5 million will contribute towards scholarships across all sports, but most of the remaining $18 million will be distributed to these four teams.
That’s interesting, and it definitely makes sense that football and both men’s and women’s basketball are included.
There must have been conversations about fairness between male and female sports, but it’s puzzling why softball was left out of the initial discussion, especially since it is becoming more popular.
Still, this is just the beginning and things could change later on. We know that in Columbus, everything revolves around football because it brings in the most money to support all the other sports.
Eventually, we will see what each athletic department in the Big Ten and across the country decides to do. It’s also worth mentioning that while NIL still matters, its impact isn’t as strong now without approval from the Clearing House.
This is yet another quick shift in college sports, and it’s clear that things are still settling down.
