House Settlement Facts

The House Settlement is the result of three cases (House v. NCAA, Hubbard v. NCAA, and Carter v. NCAA) that the NCAA and Power 5 confereces were facing that could have cost them up to $4.3 billion in damages. The parties reached a settlement, known as the House Settlement that has completely changed college sports.

As a result of the House Settlement, college athletes can now receive revenue sharing payments direclty from their respective schools.

The College Sports Commission (CSC) is an independent regulatory body that began operating in June 2025. The CSC was created by the Power Four Conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC) as a result of the House Settlement. The CSC is responsible for enforcing Division 1 revenue sharing, name, image and likeness (NIL) transactions, and roster limits.

Roster Limits: The CSC monitors roster caps that replaced the prior scholarship limit process.

Enforcement: The CSC investigates potential rule violations, determines if violations have occurred, and administers penalties.

Source: https://www.collegesportscommission.org/about

Revenue Sharing: The CSC facilitates and enforces revenue sharing that allows Division I colleges and universitis that opt to particpate in the House Settlement to directly pay their athletes.

Staring July 1,2025, participating institutions were able to directly pay their athletes based on a revenue sharing model resulting from the House settlement. Each year participating institutions and distribute up to 22% of the revenue sharing cap (revenue from media rights, ticket sales, and sponsorships).

For the 2025-2026 academic year, the cap is $20.5 million per school. The cap will increase by 4% in the following two years and will be evaluated every three years over the life of the 10-year settlement horizon (some exceptions apply).

Student compensation from revenue share is in addition to a student’s athletic scholarship, third-party NIL earnings, and prior permitted educational benefits.

Participating institutions are required to report their revenue sharing payment to student athletes through the College Athlete Payment System (CAPS). CAPS was developed by the CSC and LBi Software, a leading sports management software provider. CAPS enables schools to allocate cap funds to their athletes, monitor and tract progress against the cap, and manage compliance with revenue sharing, and track roster allocations.

Source: https://www.collegesportscommission.org/revenue-sharing

NIL Go is the platform where athletes submit their third-party NIL transactions prior to accepting the deal to ensure the deal meets eligibility requirements. NIL transactions are evaluated based on Range of Compensation (RoC), Valid Business Purpose (VBP) and Associated Status.

NIL Transactions: The CSC reviews all third-party NIL transactions that in the aggregate are $600 or more to confirm fair market value, legitimate business purpose, and associated status. Transactions are submitted through the NIL Go platform. Transactions can be revised, canceled, or appealed.

As of June 7, 2025, NCAA Division I athletes are required to report third-party Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) transactions that in the aggregate have a value of $600 or more. The CSC utilizes the NIL Go platform to determine whether the NIL transactions exceed a reasonable range of compensation and are for a valid business purpose. Additional guidance on NIL reporting will be provided to athletes as their institutions on-board to NIL Go (RoC) determines whether the compensation paid to the athlete is commensurate with compensation paid to similarly situated individuals.
RoC is a deal level analysis that aims to capture the athlete's unique NIL value based on multiple factors such as deals performance obligations, the athlete athletic performance, social mediareach, local market, and market reach of his or her institution or program. RoC is informed by external benchmarks.

Valid Business Purpose determines whether a deal is being made with the purpose of using the athlete’s NIL for a valid business purpose related to the promotion or endorsement of goods or services being provided to the public for profit.

Deals must demonstrate a legitimate commercial rationale,including:
-Evidence of using the student-athlete’s NIL topromote or endorse a good or service provided to the general public for profit

-Compliance with industry standard NIL practices

Associated Status
Associated Status determines whether the deal sponsor andor deal facilitator’s relationship with the student-athlete’s institution, is deemed to be an associated entity or individual

An associated entity or individual is:
An entity that is or was known (or should have been known) to the athletics department staff of an institution, to exist, in significant part, for the purpose of (a) promoting or supporting a particular institution’s intercollegiate athletics program or student-athletes; and/or (b) creating or identifying NIL opportunities solely for a particular institution’s student-athletes;

· An individual who was a member, employee,director, officer, owner or agent of any entity described above;
· An individual who directly or indirectly(including contributions by an affiliated entity or family member) has contributed more than $50,000 over their lifetime to a particular institution or to an entity described in the first bullet above;
· An individual or entity that has been directedor requested by an institution’s athletics department staff to assist in the recruitment or retention of prospective or current student-athletes, or otherwise has assisted in the recruitment or retention of prospective or current student-athletes; or
· Any entity owned, controlled, or operated by, orotherwise affiliated with the individuals or entities described in the bullets above other than a publicly traded corporation.

Source: https://www.collegesportscommission.org/nil

The House settlement removed NCAA Scholarship limits and created roster limits for each sport. Roster limits permit schools to offer partial or full scholarships to each student on the team’s roster if the total number of student athletes is within the outlined roster limit.

Roster limits are submitted through the CAPS platform for formal certification. The certification must be completed prior to the start of the competitive season or by December 1, whichever comes first. The CSC is
responsible for ensuring compliance with roster limits.

Source: https://www.collegesportscommission.org/roster-limits

The College Sports Commission (CSC) is responsible forensuring compliance with Revenue sharing, student athlete third party name, image and likeness (NIL), and roster limits. The CSC will investigate potential
violations, determine potential violations and penalties, provide notice, and opportunity to be heard, participate in arbitration and administer penalties for violations.

NCAA’s enforcement department remains responsible forenforcement of rules not related to the House Settlement.

Arbitration
The settlement established a new neutral arbitrationsystem, which allows student athletes to challenge the enforcement actions of the CSC.

A student athlete has 14 days after receiving a decisionto initiate the arbitration process. If the student athlete does not initiate the arbitration process within 14 days, the decision of the CSC will be final
and binding. During the 14-day decisionand pending arbitration, enforcement of discipline will be on hold, and the student athlete remains eligible to compete, unless the arbitrator determines
otherwise. The decision of the neutral arbitrator will be final and binding on the student athlete and the CSC. Allarbitrations will be resolved within 45 calendar days from the start of the process unless the arbitrator decides to extend the time.

Source: https://www.collegesportscommission.org/enforcement