NCAA House Settlement Details for NIL, Roster Limits and Opting In or Out

After months of anticipation, we’re finally able to share some details with you regarding the NCAA – House settlement and the ways in which it will impact NCAA Division I student-athletes and teams.

NIL

For NIL arrangements with third-parties other than their own university, Division I athletes are now required to report deals worth $600 or more to a new online platform called “NIL Go.”  (www.nilgo.com)

The goal of this new process is to gain some control over the value of NIL deals, so that they are more in line with what was originally intended for the use of an athlete’s name, image or likeness.  That is, for arrangements such as being compensated for autograph signing, personal appearances, or promoting businesses through social media, rather than what appear to be simple “pay for play” compensation deals for upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars or more.

NIL deals with third parties will be evaluated on the following three points:

• The relationship between the “payor” and the athlete’s school.
• Whether the payor offer of NIL compensation is for a valid business purpose.
• Whether the compensation is reasonable for deals offered to other similar individuals (based on things like the athlete’s public recognition, number of social media followers, is the payor a local company or a nationally recognized brand? etc).

If an athlete’s NIL deal is Not Cleared through NIL Go, the athlete will have the option to revise the deal and resubmit for approval, to cancel the deal or can appeal through an arbitration process.

Note: This requirement applies to ALL Division I athletes, regardless of whether their school is opting-in to or is opting-out of the House settlement and is effective immediately.

Roster Limits

Defendant universities (ACC, SEC, Big 10, Big 12 and Pac-12) and other universities that Opt-In to the House settlement – referred to as “Participating Institutions” – will be held to the roster limits in each sport that have been publicized for the past few months.

However, Participating Institutions will be able to designate athletes who had been told that they were losing their roster spot due to the House settlement if they were on a Division I roster prior to April 7, 2025. Those Designated Student-Athletes will be allowed to continue participating with the team but will not count against a team’s roster limit.

• The same will be true for recruited athletes who had signed with or been promised a roster sport with a team for the upcoming year before April 7.
• Designated Student-Athletes must be declared by each Participating Institution and be reported to the NCAA by July 6. Once that list has been submitted to the NCAA, it can’t be revised.
• Furthermore, except for Designated Student-Athletes (who will not count in roster limits), Fall sports must finalize and be at their limit by the first date of competition this Fall. For Winter and Spring sports teams, rosters must be finalized by either the first date of competition or December 1, 2025, whichever is earlier.
• Participating Institutions that can afford to do so will have the opportunity to provide full scholarship funding to every athlete on their roster, rather than being restricted to the scholarship limits for each team that have been a part of Division I athletics for many years.

Those universities that Opt-Out of the House settlement will have no specific roster limits (except for Division I baseball), but they will continue to be held to the current scholarship limits in each sport.

Opting in or Opting Out

Schools that are current members of the ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC, as well as schools that choose to Opt-In to the House settlement will be referred to as Participating Institutions.

• Those schools will be allowed to directly share revenue earned by the athletic departments with their student-athletes, in addition to having the opportunity to provide full scholarships to those athletes.
• Schools must formally Opt-In for the 2025-26 school year no later than June 30. A full list of participating schools will then be made public.
• Going forward, on an annual basis, schools outside of the major conferences will need to declare each year if they are Opting-In or Opting-Out for the upcoming school year no later than March 1.

Do You Have Questions?

Schedule a confidential Scholarship Strategies consultation online if you have questions about the settlement, and we’ll do our best to answer them with the resource materials that we have access to from the NCAA, or by calling us at 913-766-1235 or writing to rick@informedathlete.com.