{"id":609585,"date":"2025-04-09T04:27:46","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T11:27:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=609585"},"modified":"2025-04-09T04:27:46","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T11:27:46","slug":"the-college-sports-overhaul-a-timeline-of-the-transition-to-new-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/the-college-sports-overhaul-a-timeline-of-the-transition-to-new-era\/","title":{"rendered":"The College Sports Overhaul: A Timeline of the Transition to New Era"},"content":{"rendered":"

College Sports Overhaul: Timeline of the Transition to New Era<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 2025-26 season in college sports will mark a first, with universities allowed to directly pay athletes for the first time after the settlement in the House v. NCAA\u00a0<\/em>federal case.<\/p>\n

For Division I conferences that adopt the settlement \u2014 including the the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and any other conferences that opt in \u2014 scholarship limits will be replaced with hard roster caps, with universities given the option to offer full scholarships to all members. Walk-ons will no longer exist.<\/p>\n

This change, which combined multiple lawsuits to one brought by former Arizona State swimmer Grant House, <\/b>comes just four years after the introduction of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) rights for college athletes, which allowed NCAA participants to remain eligible while accepting money from sponsors and third-party collectives. Meanwhile, it has been only seven years since the advent of the transfer portal, which made the process of moving between institutions far easier while removing penalties and wait time for transfers.<\/p>\n

The final step of this transition will take place in the coming days when the House settlement is ratified by a federal judge. With that in mind, here are the primary events that have transformed college sports \u2014 including swimming<\/a> \u2014 over the past seven years.<\/p>\n