Above the Cap | Special Brief

What Just Happened?

On Friday afternoon, June 5, 2025, Judge Claudia Wilken approved the House v. NCAA settlement, mandating a $2.8 billion back‑pay fund and allowing schools to share up to $20.5 million annually in new revenue with athletes starting July 1, plus launching the Deloitte‑run NIL Go.

⚠️ So What’s the Impact?

College sports has entered revenue‑sharing mode, and revenue planning needs to match 

• Athletic departments now function like professional front offices: managing roster caps, payroll, and ROI-focused talent investments.

• So what? If you’re supporting athletics or collectives, “business as usual” is no longer an option. Now it’s about budget rigor, competitive talent retention, and strategic value alignment—not just securing Donor funding and Brand x Athlete deals.

Roster limits and scholarship restructuring are here

• The shift from unlimited scholarships to roster caps, with the grandfathering of current players, means cuts to programs (some of which may be eliminated altogether).

• So what? Roster and resource planning are now strategic. Creating nimble programs while protecting athlete pipelines and compliance will define success.

A new governance structure is emerging – and it’s powered by institutions

• A College Sports Commission, led by MLB executive Bryan Seeley, will enforce caps, NIL monitoring, and dispute arbitration, with oversight by Deloitte.

• So what? An unknown change in compliance cycles and legal uncertainty with FMV standards. Now’s the time to have expert systems and real‑time data to stay ahead.

🎯 NOCAP Statement on the House v. NCAA Settlement

The final approval of the House v. NCAA settlement marks a significant and overdue turning point in college sports. For years, athletes have been treated as amateurs in a billion-dollar industry. That era is ending—and we welcome what comes next.

At NOCAP, we’ve always believed in building for this moment, not reacting to it. This decision adds long-needed structure to an evolving space. But structure doesn’t mean simplicity. The business of college athletics is now faster, bigger, and more complex. Brands, collectives, and SCHOOLS WILL NEED TRUE PARTNERS, NOT JUST PLATFORMS, to keep pace and deliver results.

We’re not here for the headlines. We’re here for the execution. That means:

• Helping brands run campaigns that work—with real deliverables, real results, and real athlete value.

• Giving collectives and universities tools to drive scalable, commercial partner-backed funding that reduces reliance on donor dollars.

• Empowering athletes with opportunities beyond the field—because revenue-sharing is a floor, not the ceiling.

This isn’t just a policy change—it’s a power shift. And NOCAP is built to lead in this new chapter.

Let’s build what’s next. 🚀

— The NOCAP Team