College sports have changed forever. Here’s how CU is tackling the House settlement
- Lincoln Roch
- Jun 13
- 7 min read
Student athletes will now be paid directly by the University of Colorado Boulder.
The groundbreaking House v. NCAA settlement, which lets universities pay athletes for their name, image and likeness (NIL), got a judge's final signoff Friday and will go into effect July 1.
The suit will also dole out $2.8 billion over 10 years to athletes who competed from 2016 to 2021, create roster limits and allow every player on a team to receive a scholarship.
CU Athletics has spent nearly a year preparing for the settlement. Athletic Director Rick George has brought on new staff, revamped the department's fundraising outlets and worked to change state law, all to bring CU into the newfound world of college sports.
Under the settlement, schools will be allowed to spend 22% of an athletic program’s revenue, roughly $20.5 million, for athlete pay in the 2025-2026 school year. That money stems from sources like ticket sales, media rights and sponsorships.
In an April email, George answered several questions from Sko Buffs Sports. He said that CU is ready to meet the $20.5 million cap this year and will continue to max out its revenue sharing going forward.
Finding the money to meet the cap has resulted in colleges across the country laying off staff and cutting sports. But George, who says drastic changes aren’t currently planned, is having to juggle equity with competitiveness as NIL at CU comes under his control.
The $20.5 Million question
CU Athletics is an independent enterprise of the university, meaning no tuition or tax dollars are spent on its budget.
With George searching for any new revenue streams, students will see an increase in the athletics fee that every undergraduate pays each semester. The Board of Regents raised the fee from $28 to $90 in April. Money from the increase is planned to go towards women's sports scholarships and non-revenue sports.
The fee had not been raised since 1994. Until the change, CU had the lowest athletic fee in the state, and one of the lowest in the Big 12 conference, earning just $1.6 million from it in 2024. A university representative told the Daily Camera that the fee could be raised again, to $130 per semester, for the 2026-2027 school year.
In January, George brought all fundraising in-house when he shuttered the 5430 Alliance, CU’s former NIL Collective. He directed donors to give solely to the Buff Club, the athletic program's fundraising outlet.
Donors can choose to give to either the Sports Excellence Fund, which goes toward a specific team, or the AD’s Excellence Fund, which goes toward George's discretionary fund.
The department has also looked to cut its budget wherever possible. In January, George said that there were no plans to lay off employees, but that they were certainly on the table. Then, in early June, two track coaches had their positions eliminated. According to George, certain positions have also gone unfilled after staff departures.
The athletic program made $8.2 million in net profit last year, with over $146.5 million in expenses.
On top of the millions for athletes, it will also be paying new record-breaking salaries for two football coaches. Contract extensions in the offseason will pay head coach Deion Sanders $52 million over five years and defensive coordinator Robert Livingston $3.2 million for the next two.
The settlement’s billions in back pay for former athletes will also result in less revenue for the school. While that money is being directly paid by the NCAA and its conferences, the school will get less postseason earnings, notably bowl revenue, which is distributed across the Big 12.
The increased athletics fee will likely result in millions of new dollars, but the revenue sharing cap will rise each year. That means George will have to keep growing revenue or make deeper cuts.
Football will get most new funds
According to George, every athlete can participate to some degree in the revenue sharing and continue to participate in third-party NIL deals. Every sport will also receive a budget. But its size will be proportional to the revenue the sport generates.
In 2024, the football program brought in way more revenue than every other sport combined. Of the nearly $35 million CU made in ticket sales last year, over $31 million came directly from football. The team also earned $8.8 million distributed by the Big 12 from the conference's postseason bowl game earnings.
Only three other teams, men's and women's basketball, along with volleyball, broke $100,000 in ticket sales.
There is no requirement in the settlement or federal law for CU Athletics to distribute the money across all of its sports. In February, the Trump administration reversed guidance from the Department of Education that tried to apply Title IX to NIL funds, meaning they would have had to be distributed proportionally by gender.
An appeal of the settlement filed this week will try to apply Title IX to the billions in back pay.
Across the country, some schools have cut many, if not all, of their Olympic sports teams to pay football and basketball players. George said that there are no plans to cut any programs and that “CU will follow NCAA and Department of Education guidance with respect to Title IX.”
But three programs will get more support than the rest. George created a four-person department to handle NIL. One hire, the former director of the 5430 Alliance, will specifically serve as the football program's director of NIL revenue sharing.
“The roster size and volume of licensing agreements necessitates a sport-specific revenue sharing-related position within that program [football],” George wrote.
Both men’s and women’s basketball have reorganized job responsibilities to allow an existing staff member to take on revenue-sharing duties. While George says all CU programs are supported by the NIL department, no other sports will have dedicated staff for NIL.
New law keeps contracts from the public
In March, the state legislature legalized NIL payments for student athletes at Colorado universities. George and CU lobbyists helped draft the bill, which was sponsored by former CU Regent Rep. Leslie Smith.
The bill was opposed by two journalism organizations and the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition over a provision that exempts the athlete's name and any identifiable information on NIL contracts from the public.
Under the Colorado Open Records Act, government contracts are open records, including those of high-profile figures like Sanders, who is the highest-paid state employee.
“Students are making a choice to accept these dollars, that's a fact, and by accepting those dollars, I think accountability comes with it,” Denver 7 chief investigative reporter Tony Kovaleski said at the bill's hearing. A member of Sko Buffs Sports' editorial leadership also testified against the bill.
George fought hard to keep the CORA exemption in the bill. He argues that privacy is directly tied to student-athlete mental health, and that if their compensation is public, it could subject them to harassment from those who feel their performance is not to the level of their compensation.
“We’ve also been public that since other states do not require NIL agreements to be subject to open records requests. Having a CORA provision allows CU to compete on a more level playing field,” George said.
An amendment aimed at addressing transparency issues will require schools to file an annual report showing how NIL funds are being divided between each sport.
Roster limits could end walk-ons
One of the most controversial parts of the House settlement is the limits that will be imposed on rosters for every Division I sport. Football will be capped at 105 players, while basketball will have 15 spots.
Long snapper Camden Dempsey walked on to the football team in the 2021 season. He serves as the co-chair of the Big 12 Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and submitted a letter to the judge overseeing the settlement on behalf of over 90 athletes, calling for a grandfathering of current athletes who might otherwise get cut by their programs.
She delayed approval for nearly two months, asking the lawsuit's parties to find a compromise on the issue.
“I’ve spent four years earning my place on my team … Not through scholarship offers or fanfare, but through relentless work, trust and belief,” Dempsey said in his letter to the judge. “We are simply asking to finish what we started. Coaches made commitments to us. We made commitments to them.”
A compromise was made that will allow schools to grandfather in current athletes, but it is not mandated. All players on the team will, however, be eligible for scholarships. Previously, there were no rules on the size of a team, but instead caps on the number of scholarships.
House is the final blow to a long-standing tradition of amateurism in the NCAA. Through the transfer portal and recruitment process, Schools have already been dropping nine figures on their rosters through their NIL collectives.
Meanwhile, athletes now look for the highest bidder in recruiting and the transfer portal. Money has even trickled down to prep sports. Middle schoolers now have NIL deals, and high school freshmen can make millions.
This new era of pay-for-play has faced vast criticism. Legendary coaches like Nick Saban and Mike Krzyzewski have railed against NIL and the House. Saban has said it was a factor in his retirement.
George has embraced it but thinks the standardized model created by House is just a first step.
“We still need federal legislation that would help codify what has been established in House and create more stability in our industry,” George said.
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