On June 6, college athletics was changed forever after a federal judge decided to approve a landmark $2.8 billion settlement allowing schools to pay their student-athletes directly. Under the terms, schools can share up to $20.5 million annually with athletes and compensate former athletes with a collective $2.8 billion over the next decade.
Over the next 10 years, the back payments for athletes who competed between 2016 and September 15, 2024 will given out. Taking into consideration that football and men’s basketball account for over 90% of team-specific revenue at most Power Conference schools, it’s reasonable to expect those athletes to receive the bulk of new compensation.
Charlie Baker, the NCAA President, also confirmed what he had previously said directly to universities, which was the NCAA will pay about $1.2 billion of the $2.8 billion that schools owe the former players. Individual schools will not decide the amount of back pay for athletes. That determination will instead be handled through the NCAA's legal settlement process.
The specific amount of back pay will be determined by a set of formulas based on factors such as the sport they played, the specific years they played between 2016 and 2024, the conference they competed in (Power Five conferences generally lead to higher payouts due to broadcast revenues), stats (mainly in football and men's basketball), and scholarship status (for Power Five football and basketball)
Miami will be one of the many schools that will need to give former players some of their deserved money. Hurricanes players who benefitted from NIL, but not fully, are included in the eligible players. So, that's why players who participated in the NIL era would be eligible.
There will be plenty of Miami players that qualify for back pay so it will be interesting who ends up getting their rightful piece of the pie, but that's how the bill will come to Miami.