Northwestern athletic director Mark Jackson called the months ahead for college sports a time of “seismic change.” On Monday, before the NCAA men’s basketball national championship game tips off, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken will preside over a final approval hearing for the House vs. NC AA settlement. The settlement would initiate sweeping revisions in the college sports landscape, starting this summer. Along with awarding $2.8 billion in back damages to college athletes for missed name, image and likeness (NIL) opportunities, the terms most notably would allow universities to directly share revenue with their athletes — up to $20.5 million per school in the first year. Athletes previously received compensation beyond scholarships via third-party NIL deals through collectives. Those deals still would be legal under the new rules, but athletes would have to report any deal worth more than $600. That deal would then be subject to review by a clearinghouse. The potential changes have created a storm of challenges and questions for Division I athletic directors such as Jackson over the last year as they try to position their departments to succeed under the new rules. Athletic department leaders simultaneously are trying to make financially viable decisions on how they will share revenue, figure out how to operate their sports under new scholarship and roster limits — and properly communicate all of their decisions to the coaches and athletes whose livelihoods depend on them. “Certainly everybody’s a little bit on edge,” said Jackson, whom Northwestern hired in August. “This is all new. So it doesn’t feel comfortable, but our attitude and our approach to this is we’re going to embrace it. We’re going to find a way to adapt and change. “And that’s not always easy. I get it, but it doesn’t make any sense to complain about it. It’s just like any problem. You want to get as much information as you can to find a strategic solution that, for us at Northwestern, benefits us for the long term. So that’s the message I tell myself, I tell our teams, our coaches, our student-athletes. That we’re going to be OK.” As the final approval looms, here’s a look at some of the challenges and promises ahead through the eyes of Jackson, Northern Illinois AD Sean T. Frazier and other local college sports leaders. Dividing revenue Frazier, NIU’s athletic director since 2013, was at the NCAA’s annual convention in Nashville, Tenn., in mid-January when the U.S. Department of Education under former President Joe Biden issued guidance that revenue-sharing payments to college athletes should be distributed proportionately to men and women. Colleges that didn’t follow the guidance risked violating federal Title IX regulations, the memo said — a departure from how NIL payments have been handled. Northern Illinois Athletic Director Sean T. Frazier attends the NCAA convention on Jan. 15, 2025, in Nashville, Tennessee. (George Walker IV/AP) The guidance lasted less than a month under President Donald Trump’s administration, which rescinded it on Feb. 12, saying in a news release that “Title IX says nothing about how revenue-generating athletics programs should allocate compensation among student-athletes.” “The uncertainty was real,” Frazier told the Tribune. “All of a sudden this guidance (from the Biden administration) popped up that was very punitive. Like everything, it was put out there that all of that is going to be counting against you. “And then all of a sudden, in the middle of the night, it was flipped. ‘Don’t believe that announcement that we put out in January. That’s gone.’ You can’t even find it on the website.” In a big-money era, University of Illinois shrugs off rules on athletes’ NIL deals The varying interpretations of how Title IX applies to revenue sharing add a wrinkle for athletic directors to consider — one that could be subject to future litigation — as they decide how to divide payments. Jackson stressed he wants Northwestern’s programs to thrive equitably, noting the university is adding women’s indoor and outdoor track to increase opportunities. Frazier considers his department “really conscious” of operating through an equity lens, pointing out it recently had Title IX expert Janet Judge review its operations. “So we will never get outside of that,” Frazier said. “We need to make sure we fund and support gender equity and opportunities for women, and we do it in a way where it is consistent nationally. So we might be giving more aid in different ways, but we’re going to meet need and give aid equitably.” Both athletic directors said they are running multiple models for how they will distribute revenue-sharing payments. NIU hasn’t officially decided whether it will opt into the settlement in 2025 as the department and the Mid-American Conference gather information. But the Horizon League — in which the Huskies will play all sports except football, women’s gymnastics and men’s wrestling starting in 2026 — announced its member institutions will opt in. Frazier said NIU won’t be sharing the maximum $20.5 million when it does opt in. Northwestern Athletic Director Mark Jackson watches the Northwestern Wildcats host the Indiana Hoosiers in a football game on Oct. 5, 2024 in Evanston. (Michael Reaves/Getty) Jackson said Northwestern, a private institution, isn’t locked in on numbers — and likely won’t share them publicly. But the university probably will “follow national trend lines with others that have shared those numbers,” he said. Yahoo Sports reported that most power-conference athletic departments plan to divide the $20.5 million based on the revenue each sport generates. For many, that would mean 70% to 85% would go to football, 10% to 20% to men’s basketball and 10% to 15% to other sports, according to the report. Those numbers obviously wouldn’t comply with Title IX if it were required. While testifying at a U.S. House subcommittee hearing in early March, Illinois AD Josh Whitman laid out the competing considerations for a department like his. “If we were to apply Title IX in the sense of the traditional financial aid balancing proportionality, we would be diverting money away from the athletes who generate that revenue, many of whom are athletes of color, many of whom come from underprivileged backgrounds,” Whitman said. “On the flip side, we understand that if we were to maintain those revenues with the student-athletes who generate it, we wouldn’t be potentially passing as much of it along to our female student-athletes. It creates a really challenging dynamic for us to navigate on campus.” As part of that conversation, Jackson said Northwestern is conscious of making sure some of its most successful programs — such as recent national champions in women’s lacrosse and field hockey — properly benefit from the new landscape. “We have certain programs that compete nationally and consistently, and we don’t want to take any steps backward,” Jackson told the Tribune. “We don’t want any program here — 21 sports, 500-plus student-athletes — to take a step backward as part of rev share or anything else that happens, scholarship, roster limits. “Some are going to probably advance sooner rather than others, based on rev share. Every department had to make those hard decisions, strategic decisions, and we’re one of them.” Tough roster decisions Danny Hughes and John WeidenbachPhoto provided by Joseph WeidenbachNaperville Central graduate Danny Hughes, left, and Benet graduate John Weidenbach celebrate at NRG Stadium in Houston after Michigan’s 34-13 victory against Washington in the College Football Playoff national championship game on Jan. 8, 2024. (Photo provided by Joseph Weidenbach) Michigan linebacker John Weidenbach, a walk-on from Benet Academy in Lisle, was among the dozens of people to file objections to Wilken ahead of the settlement hearing. Weidenbach’s letter detailed his love of Michigan football and his major issue with the proposed settlement terms. While the number of full scholarships teams may provide will increase in almost every sport, lower roster limits will be imposed for schools that opt into the settlement. In football, teams would be able to offer 105 full scholarships, up from 85. But the roster also would be capped at 105 players, meaning a typical football team fielding 120 or more players would have to eliminate more than a dozen walk-on spots. “Many of my teammates are devastated. I am devastated,” Weidenbach wrote. “We worked hard our entire lives to prove ourselves. We never expected anything but the promises that were made to us to be kept. I have been on an emotional roller coaster, and I am not alone. I have spoken to many athletes at Michigan who are undergoing the same experience of being torn apart by anxiety, uncertainty and fear of being cut.” Athletic departments have had a blueprint of the likely roster numbers since last summer, so they have had months to prepare their coaches and athletes for likely cuts. Jackson said Northwestern has been “honest and transparent” about what’s ahead. Northwestern players celebrate after a 13-6 win over the Miami (Ohio) on Aug. 31, 2024, in Evanston. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune) “If those numbers hold true, we’re in a really good position in terms of the conversations our head coaches have had, whether it’s to the student-athletes to get to a number where they’re comfortable and fall within the limits,” Jackson said. “Since we started to see what may come out of the House settlement, we wanted to get that in front of our head coaches so that they could get as far ahead of it as they could and be transparent with their student-athletes.” As for the increased scholarship limits, Jackson said Northwestern won’t expand to the maximum in every sport it offers but will go case by case based on what the coach believes he or she needs. While the Southeastern Conference reportedly decided in November its schools will retain the 85-scholarship limit for the 2025 football season, the Big Ten hasn’t announced any conference-wide limits. Frazier said NIU also is under the proposed roster limits, not making recruiting offers beyond the numbers. He said he has tried to be open about what the department is trying to accomplish as it makes some tough decisions. “If I was to tell you that everybody was 100% on board with some of the decisions that I made, or that will happen, I’d be not telling the truth,” Frazier said. “I have a desk of competing priorities. My job is to do the best I can with the information that I have.” A basketball imbalance? Jackson spent nine years as Villanova’s athletic director and considers the university a huge part of his life. But he also shares in what he called “an industry-wide concern” about what revenue sharing might do for departments like Villanova’s, which fields a Football Championship Subdivision team, or others that don’t have football at all. That’s because non-football schools might be able to invest significantly more of the allotted $20.5 million in their basketball teams than power-conference schools that have both sports and are largely driven by football revenue. Former Maryland coach Kevin Willard just left for Villanova after citing concerns over how much the Terrapins athletic department was willing to invest in its men’s basketball program. “Depending on what they do — and I don’t know what they’re going to do — they could have a distinct advantage if they invest their revenue share in the right way,” Jackson said of programs such as Villanova. “So that’s an industry-wide question we’re going to have to come to an answer to.” The conversation, which became a talking point during the NCAA Tournament, applies to non-football schools in Chicago such as DePaul and Loyola. Ramblers men’s basketball coach Drew Valentine acknowledged the possibility during a March session with reporters. “We’re definitely going to have an advantage,” Valentine said. “That’s why our guys should want to come back because they’re going to be compensated very, very well. Extremely well. I’m excited about that. “That’s part of my excitement is not having to hope and pray. Our recruiting has improved every year since I’ve been here, and it’s only going to continue to go further with us being able to participate in rev share.” Loyola coach Drew Valentine gives direction to the team during the second half against Kent State in the NIT quarterfinals at Gentile Arena on March 26, 2025, in Chicago. (Audrey Richardson/Chicago Tribune) Loyola AD Steve Watson declined interview requests because he wanted to refrain from commenting publicly on the House settlement at this time. The Ramblers did, however, have a couple of players enter the transfer portal, with leading scorer Jayden Dawson committing to Kansas, according to On3.com. Jackson said the potential imbalance could be influential when a department makes decisions such as basketball scheduling. “Do you want to play against teams that have a significant advantage in the way they’re investing money?” Jackson said. “Those questions are all at play.” Other concerns Whitman’s appearance at the congressional hearing in early March was to state his support of bipartisan legislation to navigate some of the issues in college sports. He argued for establishing a uniform national NIL and revenue-sharing framework, in the mold of the House settlement, and a set of student-athlete protections and benefits. He asked for a “limited antitrust safe harbor” to help protect the NCAA and its member institutions from lawsuits as they try to implement these rules. He asked that the relationship between institutions and athletes not be classified as an employer-employee relationship. And he pointed to the need to preempt varying state laws that put forth different rules — and advantages — for schools across the country. “There is that possibility where states will pass legislation that conflicts with the terms of the settlement in an effort to create competitive advantage,” Whitman said. “That’s what we’ve started to see with more frequency across the country is a race for states to find ways to give their hometown schools an edge. “Ultimately what we’re here to discuss is the role that Congress can play in trying to create that level playing field and avoid putting schools in situations where they have to choose between complying with a federal court order and ultimately with a state law.” Whitman’s testimony further clarified that while the House settlement would lay out a new set of rules, nobody really knows how those rules will play out in the absence of federal legislation, which could be a long way off. The threat of continuing litigation is a potential headache. Whether the regulation of third-party NIL deals actually can be enforced is one of the biggest questions. The ways in which schools can find an edge in a new marketplace is a point of intrigue. Some departments, including Northwestern’s, have been working to make sure the money in their NIL collectives is put to good use before the changes. Jackson said his department could find ways to carry some of the collective money back into the institution in a way that benefits student-athletes if there’s a surplus. Whitman introduced another interesting component to the revenue-sharing era: performance bonuses. “Ultimately we think performance bonuses have a place,” he said. “Whether institutions ultimately choose to use them or not is a different question. One of the intentions of this process is to allow each school a lot of autonomy to determine for itself how best to structure its contracts and its relationships with student-athletes to make their institution as appealing as possible.” Preparations for the new landscape When Frazier spoke with the Tribune, he had just participated in a late February news conference announcing the move of most NIU sports to the Horizon League. That came less than two months after the school announced its football team would be joining the Mountain West Conference in 2026. Frazier believes NIU may have arrived at both moves eventually, but the school was more aggressive in its pursuit of them knowing what lay ahead. He sees it as getting out in front of the challenges that a department faces in this college sports landscape. “It was a direct response to the House settlement, transfer portal, the name, image and likeness component, as well as the expansion of the College Football Playoff,” Frazier said. “Because what has happened is that we have to be able to be nimble and financially solvent, to be able to do the things necessary in a public institution framework.” Lawmakers from 4 states — including Illinois — weigh whether to give athletes a tax break on NIL earnings Frazier previously worked as an administrator at Wisconsin when former football coach Barry Alvarez helmed the athletic department. He said the football program’s success helped “all boats rise,” and he believes the Huskies football program’s move to the Mountain West — and the money it will bring in — could do the same for other NIU sports. “The positive is that we’re engaged to make the change, so if you wanted to be a change agent, here we are. You got what you wanted,” Frazier said. “No one said we can get (the conference moves) done. And now we’re looking at the balance sheets, expenses and revenues, and I said, ‘Oh, my goodness, I might be able to do this. This is going to work.’ So, yeah, today was a successful day.” Jackson, whose daughter Grace plays softball at North Carolina, is trying to keep a similar positive mindset as he tackles the challenges ahead, including making sure his department has the proper revenue streams to remain competitive. He has been watching other athletic departments throughout the country to see what type of people they bring in to manage the many new aspects related to the settlement. He hopes to hire someone soon to oversee the “new vertical of a college athletic department.” “When you think about rev share versus scholarship versus fair market value analysis versus managing a cap, how that cap gets enforced, how all the teams that are underneath a cap work together, most departments didn’t have any of that in place a year ago,” Jackson said. “You’ve seen the advent and the development of a general manager and all those verticals underneath, that’s something we’re building. “We have some of those pieces in place right now. But it’s a new world for a lot of people, and we need eyes on it and we need to be working on it every day.” Jackson thinks of his executive team in a C-suite-type model. That’s having chief revenue and operating officers, or it’s examining department communications through a lens of not only telling stories about the teams, but also helping to serve the athletes’ individual marketing needs. “I’m more optimistic every day that I become more familiar with it,” he said of what’s ahead for college athletics. “And that’s the attitude and the approach that I’ve taken for this since this kind of seismic change has hit. “I’m not one to sit here and wallow or wonder why the glass is half-empty. It’s not me. So I’ve taken an approach and attitude of, ‘Hey, we’re not just going to survive this. We’re going to thrive in this.’” ...read more read less