Federal judge Claudia Wilken’s final approval of the House v. NCAA settlement on Friday, June 8, marks an inflection point in college sports: schools can now officially and directly pay their student-athletes.
Villanova aims to be at the forefront of this historic shift across the NCAA, according to a new statement from Vice President & Director of Athletics Eric Roedl. On Monday, June 9, Roedl sent an email to the Villanova community detailing the changes and announcing a significant new initiative.
“College athletics has officially entered a new era with the final approval of the settlement resolving the landmark House antitrust lawsuit,” Roedl opened the email.
Villanova’s primary approach to Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) comes in the form of a new website serving to facilitate fundraising efforts and answer questions through a Q&A page.
The website also provides a link for donors to contribute to the new Villanova Athletics Strategic Excellence Fund (VASE). Tax-deductible donations to the fund will “provide enhanced opportunities for student-athletes to benefit from revenue share and Name, Image, and Likeness opportunities in alignment with Villanova’s mission.”
Unlike Friends of Nova, Villanova’s external collective that was founded in 2022, VASE allows the university to directly share revenue with student-athletes. Prior to the multibillion-dollar settlement, direct revenue sharing between schools and student-athletes was illegal. The NCAA’s cap on revenue sharing is $20.5 million for 2025-26.
“While Friends of Nova will continue to play a leadership role in maximizing third-party [NIL] opportunities for student-athletes, all contributions supporting the new benefits available to student-athletes should be made directly to Villanova through the VASE Fund moving forward,” Roedl stated.
The core of the settlement, which resolved three antitrust cases against the NCAA, is back-pay for former college athletes who were unable to profit from NIL. According to the new website, Villanova’s back-pay damages for athletes from 2016 to 2021 “will equate to an approximately $500,000 per year reduction in NCAA revenues paid to Villanova over that 10-year period.”
Roedl stated that Villanova’s funds will primarily serve men’s and women’s basketball, the university’s most profitable programs.
Additionally, the NCAA will no longer regulate the number of scholarships available to student-athletes. For instance, in basketball, Villanova can now offer 15 scholarships. According to the new website, Villanova can potentially “more than double the number of scholarships offered under the current rules should the necessary resources become available to fund additional scholarships.”
Instead of capping scholarships, the NCAA will now limit team roster sizes from sport to sport. Some programs around the country will be forced to shrink their rosters. But it is currently unclear how these roster limits will affect individual sports at Villanova.
Villanova’s non-basketball student-athletes are currently less impacted by the settlement. However, Roedl continues to encourage donors to benefit individual programs through the Villanova Athletics gift-giving website.
“At Villanova, we have not made any immediate changes to available scholarship funding by sport but will be evaluating our future allocation of resources given the flexibility and financial challenges presented by this settlement,” Roedl said in the email.
While many universities must now split up to $20.5 million between large football and basketball programs, Villanova’s Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) program does not demand the same level of funding. When it comes to NIL, Roedl believes that a basketball focus could be an asset for Villanova as a mid-size Catholic university competing for championships against larger, higher-funded public institutions.
The House v. NCAA settlement’s impact on Villanova is already taking shape in significant ways. For now, maximizing the revenue it can directly share with student-athletes will be crucial for Villanova to continue to recruit and retain top athletes.
