Come July 1, the Syracuse Orange and other athletics departments around the country have been preparing to begin directly paying their athletes for the first time in the history of college sports.
But things are in a state of flux right now, experts say.
That's because the federal judge overseeing the House v. NCAA settlement, Claudia Wilken, has yet to issue a final ruling on whether the landmark settlement is approved or not. On Monday night, per media reports, Wilken extended the response deadline in this case by several weeks.
As I checked out X on Tuesday, numerous experts were posting there, saying they have no idea whether Wilken will approve this settlement, even though many had figured it would get the go-ahead following a preliminary approval last fall.
Last Friday, Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports wrote on X: "It’s after 5 p.m. PT, and there is still no decision on the House settlement. In 31 days, DI athletic departments are scheduled to begin paying out more than $1 billion to athletes. There are currently no real rules, very little enforcement and minimal regulation."
College sports are fun.
The Syracuse Orange and its peers are awaiting word on whether they can pay players directly.
The House v. NCAA settlement, if it goes ahead as planned, would resolve three antitrust lawsuits at the federal level and pave the way for athletics departments to begin paying players directly. In the 2025-26 sports season, the cap would be around $20.5 million per school.
SU Athletics has said that it plans to pay that $20.5 million amount in 2025-26.
As Amanda Christovich, an excellent reporter at Front Office Sports, noted: "No one knows whether revenue sharing will be allowed, and whether hundreds of agreements already written and signed will be able to go forward. Nor do current and prospective athletes impacted by the scholarship/roster limits rule know whether they’ll get scholarships next fall, or roster spots at all. (NIL) collectives aren’t sure if they’ll have to start using a new clearinghouse."
Christovich, appropriately, ended her piece by writing, "The House settlement was supposed to bring order to college sports. At this point, however, it has had the opposite effect."
I've also mentioned several times of late that, come July 1, SU athletics director John Wildhack has said that he plans to streamline the third-party organizations supporting Syracuse Orange athletes related to name, image and likeness deals.
Those three entities are Orange United, SU Football NIL and Athletes Who Care.
The college sports landscape has been changing, and will likely continue to change, but for the time being, everyone is playing the waiting game and wondering what will transpire next.