A regulation of $ 2.8 billion which allows schools to pay directly the athletes will forever change university sports. Here’s how

A federal judge has approved the terms of a large antitrust regulations of $ 2.8 billion which will upset the way in which university sports have been managed for more than a century. In short, schools can now pay players directly through license agreements – a concept that goes against the basics of amateurism on which university sports have been built.

Some questions and answers on this monumental change for university athletics:

Q: What is the colony of the house and why is it important?

A: Grant House is a former swimmer of the state of Arizona who continued the defendants (the NCAA and the five largest sports conferences in the country). His trial and two others were combined and over several years, the dispute ended up with the regulations which put an end to an old decades ban on schools reducing controls directly to athletes. Now, each school will be able to make payments to athletes to use its name, image and resemblance (Nile). For reference, there are nearly 200,000 athletes and 350 schools in division I only and 500,000 and 1,100 schools from all over NCAA.

Q: How will schools pay the athletes and where will money come from?

A: During the year 1, each school can share up to around $ 20.5 million with its athletes, a number which represents 22% of their income from things such as media rights, ticket sales and sponsorships. Alabama sports director Greg byrne told Congress “these are resources and income that does not exist”. Part of the money will occur via constantly increasing television rights packages, in particular for the qualifiers for university football. But some schools increase costs for fans thanks to “talented costs”, increases in concession prices and “sports costs” added to tuition fees.

Q: What about scholarships? Wasn’t it like paying the athletes?

A: The scholarships and the “cost of attendance” have always been part of the agreement for many athletes in division I and there is certainly value for this, especially if the athletes obtain their diploma. NCAA says its member schools distribute nearly $ 4 billion in sports scholarships each year. But athletes have long argued that it was not enough to compensate for them for the millions of income they helped to produce for schools, which have gone to many places, including the wages of the several million dollars coaches. They brought these arguments before the courts and won.

Q: Haven’t players have been paid for some time now?

A: Yes, since 2021. Facing losses in court and an increasing number of state laws targeting its amateur policies, the NCAA has paved the way for athletes to receive zero money, including so -called supported collectives by donors who support various schools. Under the house, the school can pay this money directly to athletes and the collectives are still in the game.

Q: But will 20.5 million dollars cover all the costs for athletes?

A: Probably not. But according to the regulations, third parties are always authorized to conclude agreements with the players. Some call it a bypass solution, but most of them consider this to be the new reality in university sports while schools fight to disembark talents and keep them on campus. The best quarters would have been paid approximately $ 2 million a year, which would eat around 10% of the zero budget of a typical school for all its athletes.

Q: Are there rules or is it a free for everyone?

A: The conferences of the defendants (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and PAC-12) create an application arm which essentially takes the relay of the NCAA, which used to recruit recruitment violations and others. Among the greatest functions of this new entity, there is to analyze third -party offers worth $ 600 or more to ensure that they pay the players an appropriate “market value” for the services provided. The so-called University Sports Commission promises to be faster and more efficient than NCAA. Schools are invited to sign a contract saying that they will respect the rules of this new structure, even if it means going against the laws adopted in their individual states.

Q: What about players who played before Nil was authorized?

A: A key element of the regulation is the rear salary of $ 2.7 billion to athletes who contributed between 2016-24 and were completely or partially excluded from these payments under the preceding rules of the NCAA. This money will come from the NCAA and its conferences (but really schools, which will receive payments lower than normal things like March Madness).

Q: Who will get most of the money?

A: Since football and male basketball are the main income drivers in most schools and that money helps finance all other sports, it goes without saying that football and basketball players will get most money. But it is one of the most difficult calculations to do for schools. There could also be concerns in stocks of the title IX.

Q: What about all swimmers, gymnasts and other Olympic sports athletes?

A: The regulations call limits of alignment which will reduce the number of players in all the teams while doing all these players – not only a game – eligible for full scholarships. This should have an oversized impact on Olympic sports athletes, whose scholarships cost as much as that of a football player but whose sports do not produce income. We fear that the university talent pipeline of Team USA takes a hit.

Q: So, once it is finished, all university sports problems are solved, right?

A: The new application of the law seems to be ripe for disputes. There are also collective negotiation problems and if athletes should be considered as employees, a concept whose NCAA and schools are generally not interested, despite the suggestion of the Tennessee sports director, Danny White, collective negotiation is a potential solution to many headaches. The president of the NCAA, Charlie Baker, pushed the congress for an antitrust limited exemption which would protect university sports against another series of prosecution, but so far, nothing has emerged from Capitol Hill.

This story was initially presented on Fortune.com