Closure at last for USC and college sports as NCAA House settlement is approved

Many vested parties may not like it, and it appears that various entities will go down kicking and screaming, but USC and the rest of the schools in the NCAA now know what is expected of them. For now, the judicial proceedings will no longer be drawn out.

News came on Friday afternoon that Judge Claudia Wilken approved the hotly debated and discussed agreement between the NCAA plaintiffs and the institution itself. The update was initially released by Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger.

In short, the days of the traditional student-athlete are done. Those attending USC will very much still be part of the campus community and need to stay on track to graduate and pursue their academic interests. What has now been given the extensive green light is the ability for the athletes to be able to earn and monetize off their being nationally known and followed people.

Revenue sharing between the athletes and the schools themselves will be allowed. There is a cap based on the percentage of the overall revenue in place at 22%. Though, it must be said that this is optional for each school. Roster limitations are also going to be implemented now throughout collegiate sports, and there will be significant back payments issued to former athletes for lost NIL opportunities, also beginning July 1st of this year.

Only some fallout areas that USC will have to navigate

The Deloitte-run NIL clearinghouse, or 'NIL Go,' will now feature a prominent role in college sports. Any and all agreements between an athlete and an outside party will have to go through them for approval. ESPN's Pete Thamel shared on X that the NIL GO portal will launch on June 11th of this year. Many suspect to see an uptick in transfer portal and NIL activity for this very reason as a type of last-minute scramble.

Although the article states:

"Contracts signed before the settlement approval and paid out before July 1 were not subject to the clearinghouse or cap,leading to a “mad dash” in the basketball and football portal."

This suggests that the so-called 'mad dash' is yet to hit its full stride as of yet.

Implementing roster limitations, while some allowance for those being grandfathered in will be allowed, makes it difficult to see how walk-ons, an important part of college tradition, will be able to continue with this recent ruling.

At the moment, there may be more questions than answers, but at least now, everyone has a guideline and set time frames to begin planning around for the future of college sports.