House v. NCAA Settlement Concludes; Wren Baker Issues Statement

The landmark House v. NCAA settlement has drawn to a close, with United States District Court judge Claudia Wilken giving the green light for $2.8 billion in back pay damages payable from the NCAA to student athletes active between 2016 and the present day: athletes who otherwise would have received compensation for their talents under Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) guidelines.

The ruling paves the way for universities to pay their student athletes directly for their services, rather than compensating them through third party NIL deals and benefits like academic scholarships toward tuition and room and board.
WVU athletic director Wren Baker issued the following statement after the settlement’s conclusion.

Wren Baker Speaks Out

“With the approval of the House Settlement, a new era of college athletics is here. Schools can now share revenue directly with student-athletes with oversight from the newly established College Sports Commission,” Baker said.

“West Virginia University Athletics has been working and planning for this day for a long time to best position our department for future long-term success. While we will have further updates soon, I want to let Mountaineer Nation know that our tradition and place on the national stage is at the forefront of our decision-making process.

We will fully participate in revenue sharing as the House Settlement offers stability, fairness and opportunity under the guidance of the [College Sports Commission]. It’s a new day in college athletics and WVU will be strategically positioned to continue competing at the highest levels. Let’s Go!”

The NCAA will cap payments from schools to their athletes at $20.5 million during the 2025-26 academic year, which formally begins on July 1, and that dollar amount will increase from year to year over the next decade. Student athletes will still receive scholarships and other benefits for their services in addition to any payments earned.

With the House settlement out of the way, the NCAA rules committee will review another landmark proposal, one that would grant all college athletes a fifth year of eligibility moving forward. Per a report from Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, the league wanted to wait until the settlement’s conclusion to move forward with that decision.

A version of this story first appeared on our partner site, Philadelphia Sports Now.