House vs. NCAA settlement approved: Here's what it means for Xavier Musketeers basketball
- The House vs. NCAA settlement has been approved, ushering in a new era in college athletics that allows schools to directly pay athletes.
- The settlement also includes backpay for athletes from 2016 to the present and the introduction of roster size limits.
- A newly formed College Sports Commission will oversee compliance with the new rules.
A seismic shift in college athletics has arrived with the approval of the House vs. NCAA settlement.
The final hearing conducted by U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken from the third floor of the Oakland Courthouse on Monday, April 7 began a two-month whirlwind that ultimately concluded Friday, June 6 with the NCAA's House settlement's approval.
The approval of the settlement brings sweeping changes across college sports, most notably revenue sharing, which will allow colleges to pay its athletes directly for use of their name, image and likeness (NIL).
Here's how the decision impacts Xavier
Could Xavier, Big East schools benefit from revenue sharing?
The NIL has been deemed the "wild west" of college athletics since it has snowballed into seven-figure deals and bidding wars for players over the last few years. The NCAA now has greater oversight on said deals with revenue sharing ensuring that checks to student-athletes come directly from athletic departments rather than NIL collectives.
Schools will have up to $20.5 million to work with from July 2025-June 2026 (a dollar figure that will eventually rise in the coming years) and will choose how to divide those funds or if they'll spend the entire amount.
Most of that money would likely be allocated to a school's top revenue-generating sports: football and men's basketball.
Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports reported that "most power conference programs are planning to distribute 90% to football and men's basketball."
A conference like the Big East, which doesn't sponsor football, doesn't get the luxury of multi-million-dollar broadcast deals from the sport each fall. Moving forward, it won't have to give a majority of its funds to football, and men's basketball would get a bigger slice of the pie.
It's something that new Xavier head coach Richard Pitino talked about in his introductory press conference April 1 when asked if he can compete with the school's NIL.
"We're in a position of strength. When I was evaluating this move. I love football. I don't want it to be all about one program, but certainly when that house settlement passes, which I assume it will, it's gonna change a lot for everybody," Pitino said. "I truly believe the Big East is going to be in a huge position of strength moving forward. That's big in itself."
At Silver Waves Media's NIL Summit in April, ESPN's Dan Wetzel reported that Blake Lawrence of OpenDorse said the Big East would top other power conferences with a $5.7 million revenue share for men's basketball during the 2025-26 season.
In a letter to fans Thursday, Xavier University Director of Athletics Greg Christopher said Xavier is working with an average NIL pool compared to the rest of the Big East.
"Our 2025-26 team NIL/revenue sharing cap is in the middle group of the Big East, off the league average by 15%," Christopher wrote. "I know our shared expectation for Xavier Basketball is to be among the top teams and competing for the Big East title. With this in mind, we have already started conversation and planning for 2026-27.
"Because of your support, Xavier has been competitive and successful in the NIL era and will remain so in the revenue sharing world."
Christopher added that contributions to Xavier's All For One Basketball Excellence Fund will primarily support revenue sharing at the school.
"We are also exploring other avenues to increase revenue through ticketing, partnership opportunities and events, along with identifying cost efficiencies throughout our department," Christopher said.
What else was in new house settlement?
Though the amateurism that long highlighted college athletics is gone, there will be payments made to athletes who missed out on the high-dollar days of NIL.
According to ESPN, nearly $2.8 billion will be distributed to athletes who played from 2016 to present day.
Xavier will be able to mitigate its annual backpay to former athletes with its new TV contract, which begins in 2025 and runs through the 2030-2031 season.
The settlement also brings an end to sport-by-sport scholarship limits and introduces new roster-size limits, but it's unknown as to when those roster limits will be fully implemented due to revisions on the settlement.
In late-April, Judge Wilken refused the approval of the NCAA settlement because roster limits would've left thousands of athletes without a spot on their respective Division I program team.
The newly formed College Sports Commission will be responsible for "overseeing compliance to new rules around roster limits, revenue sharing and student-athlete third-party NIL deals," according to its website.