WASHINGTON —U.S. college athletes will return to pre-season training amid growing turmoil in intercollegiate sports, including skyrocketing NIL deals and massive changes in how athletes are recruited, transferred, and compensated. A new report from the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) finds that the settlement in the House v. NCAA antitrust case officially marks the end of amateurism in college sports. The report calls on Congress to enact comprehensive federal legislation to safeguard the welfare of college athletes and the institution of intercollegiate athletics.
Authored by Diana Moss, Vice President and Director of Competition Policy at PPI, “Antitrust’s Death Knell for Amateurism and College Sports: A March Madness Case Study” analyzes a decade of NCAA men’s Division 1 basketball tournament data to assess the sea-change in college athletics and the likely sweeping consequences of the House v. NCAA settlement. The settlement requires payment of damages for denied “name, image, and likeness (NIL)” and allows Division 1 schools to share billions of dollars in revenue with student athletes for the next decade. The agreement, finalized in June 2025, fundamentally reshapes the economics, competitive structure, and culture of college sports.
“This settlement effectively semi-professionalizes high-revenue college sports, and the consequences are already rippling across athletic departments nationwide,” said Moss. “While antitrust has done its work to protect student-athletes in an important labor market, we must confront the reality that a federal legislative solution is now required to manage the broader public policy questions at stake.”
Moss finds that changes in March Madness outcomes since the early 2020s reveal troubling trends that the House v. NCAA settlement has already accelerated:
Moss concludes that these shifts threaten the long-term viability of many collegiate sports, widen disparities between schools, and jeopardize athlete welfare. It calls for federal legislation that, among other requirements, prohibits any antitrust exemption for the NCAA, ensures federal preemption of the patchwork of state NIL laws, establishes clear guidelines for completion of a student athlete’s education and protection of their health and safety, sets forth a more equitable system of sharing NIL across Division 1 athletes, and prohibits the classification of student athletes as employees of an educational institution.
“The House settlement is not the final buzzer — it’s the tip-off for a new, more volatile era in college sports,” said Moss. “Absent thoughtful federal action, U.S. intercollegiate athletics risks losing not only competitive balance but the very notion of the student-athlete.”
Read and download the report here.
Founded in 1989, PPI is a catalyst for policy innovation and political reform based in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to create radically pragmatic ideas for moving America beyond ideological and partisan deadlock. Find an expert and learn more about PPI by visiting progressivepolicy.org. Follow us @PPI.
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Media Contact: Ian O’Keefe – iokeefe@ppionline.org
