96 Days: Pay For Play is about to change the game for the Kansas Jayhawks

Even though the settlement in House vs NCAA won't immediately result in direct payments to players, it does have the potential to affect the Jayhawks this season.

Kansas coach Lance Leipold talks with his team following Friday's Spring Preview at Rock Chalk Park. / Evert Nelson/The Capital-Journal / USA

The $2.75 billion settlement in House vs NCAA has finally brought about the death of amateurism, as soon individual schools will be able to directly compensate players.

Ever since the ruling in O'Bannon vs NCAA, when the governing body for college athletics was required to allow its member schools to provide cost of attendance stipends, there was still one line that many thought would never get crossed. But even as the amounts of stipends increased and the model eventually shifted to Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) rights, direct compensation from the schools to their athletes seemed to be the one thing that would never happen.

Instead, the NCAA and the "Power Five" conferences have all agreed to a settlement in the latest losing case for the college governing body that will fundamentally change the relationship between schools and their athletes.

The Jayhawks under Travis Goff have done a great job of adapting to the new realities surrounding a compensation model that requires connecting athletes with third parties to generate the amount of income needed to remain competitive. They have routinely been hailed as one of the NIL programs at the forefront of the industry, After winning the 2022 NCAA Tournament Championship, Bill Self's squad toured around the state at events put on specifically to allow the players to profit from their recent success. And the football team has had no shortage of players take advantage of the program to build their own income sources, including the Applebee's sponsorship of Jared Casey that made national news.

But this is a whole new frontier for the Jayhawks. While the details of the new guidelines will still need to be crafted, it's easy to assume that they will both have an opportunity to tap into athletic revenues to help secure commitments and have to find ways to keep everyone happy while not overextending the department's budget.

And you can be sure that even though it is going to take time for everything to become clear and players to start getting paid directly, conversations have already started to happen. It will be up to Lance Leipold and the football staff to ensure that this doesn't affect the ability of this team to perform.