CORRECTION: This article was corrected on July 29, 2025 at 8:50 a.m. CST. It previously stated that the house settlement attempted to provide clearer regulations and rules for player compensation, roster limits and scholarship expansion. These were byproducts of the house settlement — the settlement itself allows schools to pay Division I players directly and also allows former student-athletes, who did not have the opportunity to profit from their NIL to collect damages. In addition, the article previously stated that NIL deals over $600 are subject to approval by NIL Go. They are subject to review. Also, Deloitte was contracted by the College Sports Commission to assist in developing and maintaining NIL Go, not the NCAA.

Judge Claudia Wilken approved a deal between the NCAA, athletic conferences and lawyers representing all Division I athletes in the landmark House v. NCAA settlement on June 6, 2025. The settlement allows schools to pay Division I players directly and allow former student-athletes, who did not have the opportunity to profit from NIL, to collect damages. As such, the college athletics landscape around recruitment, athletic budgeting and compliance has shifted at universities like Vanderbilt. While there could be further legal action taken in the coming months, this settlement attempts to tamp down on the increasingly unregulated market of NIL. The settlement went into effect on July 1.  

“This ruling creates a foundation for greater stability, fairness, and opportunity for student-athletes — and affirms what we at Vanderbilt have long believed: transformation, when grounded in mission and values, creates opportunity,” Athletic Director Candice Lee and Chancellor Daniel Diermeier said in a statement. 

Here’s how this settlement will affect Vanderbilt Athletics.  

Revenue sharing 

Experts have argued that NIL strayed from its initial intent — for players to use their name, image and likeness to earn money. They believe that college athletics has turned into a “pay-for-play” model, where NIL collectives are paying players thousands (or even millions) of dollars for their services on the field.  

The most recent NCAA settlement allows schools to pay players directly through revenue sharing. Each school can pay its athletes up to a certain amount, which is expected to start at roughly $20.5 million per school in 2025-26. This cap will increase by around 4% each year, until the settlement reaches its end in 2034-35. Schools began crafting revenue sharing plans since this potential outcome from the settlement came to light.  

“For Vanderbilt, we think it’s a very good thing, and we’re looking forward to optimizing our place in the new world,” Lee told Sports Illustrated. “It’s going to give us some much-needed regulation. I love college athletics, and I think that the last two years we have not put our best foot forward, and not because we don’t want student athletes to share in revenue and from NIL, but in order to make the enterprise what I think we all believe, you need to have some guardrails, and you need to have some national standards.” 

All athletes are still eligible to sign NIL deals with third parties, but all deals over $600 are now subject to review by a third-party clearinghouse (NIL Go) which will determine if the deal is within a reasonable range of compensation. The College Sports Commission has contracted Deloitte to oversee this clearinghouse. 

Revenue sharing will lessen the power of boosters and the NIL collectives, which have been the primary method for players to get paid since NIL began in 2021. Now, endorsement deals between boosters and athletes will be screened to guarantee they are for a “valid business purpose” rather than a recruiting incentive.  

Roster and scholarship limits 

NCAA Division I schools will now be able to offer scholarships to every athlete on their roster. Previously, rosters had sport-specific scholarship limits.  

“Removing scholarship limits gives schools the flexibility to better support student-athletes and their education, while supporting the long-term success of broad-based sports programs,” Lee and Diermeier’s statement reads. 

In addition, the settlement introduces new roster limits that match or exceed the old scholarship restrictions for each sport. For example, NCAA Division I football used to have a scholarship cap of 85 but had an average roster size of 124.3 players. The players above the scholarship cap (traditionally walk-ons), did not receive an academic scholarship but could still be on the roster. Now, football has a roster cap of 105 players, but all 105 will be eligible to receive academic scholarships in some form. All sports will now be classified as equivalency sports — meaning that scholarship money can be divided amongst athletes, resulting in partial scholarships if not enough scholarships are allocated for an entire roster. 

The university’s transition to these new roster limits will happen over time. Currently, athletes that are over the scholarship limit are protected and will not lose their spot. As those athletes graduate, roster sizes will begin to shrink. The Business of College Sports estimates as many as 13,000 roster spots will be lost across all sports. 

“Current and immediately incoming student-athletes who may have been adversely impacted by roster limits will still have the opportunity to earn a roster spot,” Lee and Diermeier said in their statement.  

Future antitrust and Title IX implications 

While the settlement addresses past antitrust claims, new lawsuits pertaining to competition and trading restrictions remain possible under the new era of NIL enforcement. The House decision also has notable considerations around Title IX, a legal provision mandating equal treatment between male and female student-athletes.  

On June 11, eight female student-athletes filed an appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals arguing that the recently approved $2.7 billion in back pay damages would not be fairly distributed to women among the affected athletes.  

It is still unclear how the Ninth Circuit will address the women’s arguments and whether it will determine that Title IX applies to House v. NCAA. According to Reuters, the results could establish a precedent that leads to additional antitrust and discrimination lawsuits — litigation that potentially causes further delays in payouts, which is currently anticipated for 2026. 

“This is a defining time for college sports. Though much is changing, the essence of what athletics represent — community, growth, discipline, excellence — remains firmly intact,” Lee and Diermeier said. “We are ready to lead. And together, we will succeed.” 

Vanderbilt Athletics did not immediately respond to The Hustler’s request for comment on the House settlement.