If you haven’t heard about it, or only heard bits and pieces, here’s a quick summary of college scholarships and what might change in 2025/2026. The House v. NCAA lawsuit is a monumental legal case involving the NCAA and the rules regarding athlete compensation.
The plaintiffs in the case argued that the NCAA’s restrictions on athlete compensation constitute an illegal restraint of trade under antitrust law. They contended that these rules limit the earning potential of college athletes and are not justified by the need to maintain amateurism in college sports. Overall, it currently looks like this will benefit schools and athletes, but how much of those dollars will make it down to other sports is yet to be seen. Scholarship limits are being eliminated as part of the settlement, replaced by a roster limit system in which each team can choose to scholarship as many or as few athletes as it wants.
According to Yahoo News, “As part of the House settlement agreement made public on Friday, college leaders are expanding scholarships to full rosters of each sport, eliminating scholarship restrictions and replacing them with roster size limits. The new scholarship and roster structure — an attempt to prevent future lawsuits — takes effect starting in the 2025-26 academic year and coincides with the settlement’s new model that permits schools to share revenue directly with athletes.”
Then of course, there’s federal Title IX law. Scholarship increases for a men’s sport will likely need to be implemented in a women’s sport too, driving up the additional costs. Colleges will need time to plan and organized, and as mentioned in The Athletic on nytimes.com, not all schools have even agreed on how to implement this. “The Big 12 is the first of the suit’s defendants to vote on the settlement terms, with the remaining power conferences and NCAA Board of Governors also expected to do so this week.”
Beach volleyball could see new opportunities to earn money through NIL deals, endorsements, and other forms of compensation. This is very new territory, but it’s clear there’s a future here as schools deal with and implement these changes.
The House v. NCAA lawsuit is a pivotal moment for college athletics, and may reshape the landscape of athlete compensation. For beach volleyball, the outcomes could mean increased earning opportunities for players and changes in how programs are managed and funded. The ruling will likely set a precedent that affects all college sports, emphasizing the need for fair and equitable treatment of athletes across different disciplines, and will definitely take some years for the dust to settle and new opportunities to reach every school.