The House vs. NCAA Settlement by approved by Judge Claudia Wilkens on Friday, June 6th in an order filed just before the weekend.  After two delays and signalling yet another , the judge approved the House settlement, paving the way for the NCAA to directly begin compensating players through a revenue sharing agreement.  Additional lawsuits and legislative actions are expected, but the settlement resolved a total of three open lawsuits. 

The final ruling was facilitated by a new agreement between the NCAA and the plaintiffs that slightly tweaked the treatment of athletes who would have been impacted by new limits on roster size.  This modification was filed just last night.  For gymnastics, this roster limit will be 20.  Under the terms of the settlement, those athletes who who have been impacted by the roster limits can be accepted by another program, and not count against the new school's roster limit.  These athletes are "grandfathered "into the existing roster or may seek a transfer without impacting the new team.  In anticipation of this new limit, teams have taken the effort to identify their "designated student athletes" and a preliminary list has been delivered for review by the plaintiff's counsel.  The agreement says that this list must be finalized within 30 days and be made available to class members by the counsel.  There is a new process in place to  appeal placement on the list and to ensure the efforts meet the "good faith" standard outlined in the order.  The NCAA has yet to signal if the transfer portal will re-open.     

The judge also denied a stay of the settlement, meaning it can go into effect as planned, even if an appeal is filed.

The new revenue sharing model will create a pool of up to roughly $20.5M per school.  Nearly all of that money will likely go to Football and Men's basketball at each school, although several parties have signaled an intent to litigate.    

The settlement also includes payments from a fund of $2.8B to athletes who could not benefit from Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals in prior seasons.  

Shortly after the filing, the College Sports Commission was launched by the major conference to manage the new settlement and enforce its provisions.  

Links:  CBS ColegeSports  and NY Times and ESPN

Link:  Yahoo Artlcle on Roster Limit Change

Link:  New NCAA Video and Website on the Settlement