Judge paves the way for college athletes to earn millions

A federal judge has paved the way for college athletes to earn millions after approving a settlement between an Arizona State swimmer and the National Collegiate Athletic Association on Friday.

Almost five years ago, Grant House sued the NCAA and its five biggest conferences to lift restrictions on revenue sharing with college athletes.

Under the newly approved settlement, each school will now share up to $20.5 million with athletes over the next year and $2.7 billion over the next 10 years to thousands of former athletes who were previously prohibited from collecting revenue, the Associated Press reported.

Most of the athletes who will reap the rewards of this suit will be football and basketball players at the biggest sports schools.

House said in a CBS Sports article from May 2023 that he was inspired to pursue the lawsuit by Arizona State’s music students who could get paid to play at Carnegie Hall.

"I always thought it was interesting that … if [those musicians] can monetize this, take it to the farthest reaches, I couldn't because I was an athlete doing my own aspirations and dreams," House said.

“That just didn't sit well with me and confused me a lot,” he added.

CBS Sports reported that the NCAA had made claims that compensating athletes would cause issues in the locker room.

"I know there are quarterbacks getting millions of dollars. I'm not getting that. Good for them. I want them to actualize that," House said in response.

He continued: “I can imagine [locker room issues] in maybe some places where younger athletes have egos and haven't developed as much. I blame that on the culture. I don't blame that on NIL [name, image and likeness]. If your culture is that fragile, that weak, you as a university need to fix that.”