How the Approved House vs. NCAA Settlement Affects Northwestern
The long-awaited House vs. NCAA settlement was approved on Friday night, forcing the National Collegiate Athletic Association to pay $2.8 billion to current and former athletes. The lawsuit doesn't just make the NCAA compensate for lost revenue, though; it also changes the way that college sports operate as a whole.
Starting on July 1, universities can now pay their athletes directly, a major transition from the NIL collective/middle-man experience of the last few years and the "McDonald's bag full of cash" era that preceded it. Rather than a lawless free-for-all, governing bodies can now legislate how much money schools can spend on their athletes in a salary cap format known as the "revenue share."
Northwestern has had to adapt to the rapidly evolving landscape, modifying its "True NU" NIL program and university admissions policy to align with the new world it operates in. Now, the athletic department will have to respond to changing demands once again to keep up with the college sports arms race.
On the football field, the biggest challenge Northwestern will face is the impending roster limit. FBS football teams will have a 105-player roster cap, including walk-ons. Following spring transfer window additions and subtractions, the Wildcats are set to have 111 athletes ahead of the fall season, meaning the program will have to cut at least six players as things currently stand.
When asked about the House Settlement at Northwestern's open Spring Practice on April 19, head coach David Braun expressed his frustration with the uncertainty the program faced regarding potential roster limits. He said then that his staff was operating with the assumption that the cap would be 105 and was already having conversations with athletes about whether they were guaranteed a roster spot.
"We're trying to do right by the young men that we've been charged with mentoring and being stewards of their experience here at Northwestern, and we don't even have clarity on how we're supposed to do that," Braun said. "As a program, you’ve got to figure it out.... We need to be creative. We need to be solutions-based, but we also need to be abundantly transparent with the guys to make sure that they know their situation."
Under the anticipated 105-player limit, Braun outlined a scenario in which a player could be cut from the team following Fall Camp, work out on his own during the competitive season and rejoin the team as soon as offseason workouts begin. As a developmental program, Braun sees value in investing in a young athlete who "came here for all the right reasons," and giving them an opportunity to earn a roster spot the next season.
Braun also shied away from comparisons between college and professional football.
"College football is about developing people and developing football players," Braun said. "At the end of the day, we need to make sure that we put the best 105 together to go win in the Big Ten. But I also get frustrated when we're eliminating opportunities for young men to develop within the program. P.J. Spencer, who was getting after Utah at the Las Vegas Bowl in 2023, if you were to ask people in the program when P.J. came in as a walk-on, is this guy going to be someone that helps us go beat Utah out in Las Vegas... I don't want those stories to not continue to be part of college football."
Football has the largest roster size among any of Northwestern's 19 Division I sports teams, but several other Wildcat teams will also be tasked with downsizing their rosters.
Northwestern Team | Players on 2024-25 Roster | New NCAA Limit |
|---|---|---|
Baseball (M) | 35 | 34 |
Basketball (M/W) | 14 Men's, 15 Women's | 15 |
Cross Country (W) | 23 | 17 |
Fencing (W) | 30 | 24 |
Field Hockey (W) | 26 | 27 |
Football (M) | 110 | 105 |
Golf (M/W) | 9 Men's, 7 Women's | 9 |
Lacrosse (W) | 39 | 38 |
Soccer (M/W) | 28 Men's, 31 Women's | 28 |
Softball (W) | 20 | 25 |
Swimming & Diving (M/W) | 26 Men's, 30 Women's | 30 |
Tennis (M/W) | 10 Men's, 10 Women's | 10 |
Volleyball (W) | 16 | 18 |
Wrestling (M) | 26 | 30 |
While it will likely take years before athletes, universities and governing bodies all come to a final agreement where each side gets their fair share of the revenue, the passing of the House vs. NCAA settlement is a major step in the right direction.
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Gavin Dorsey is the Lead Writer for Northwestern Wildcats On SI and covers a handful of other teams in the On SI network. Before joining On SI in February 2025, he wrote for the Star Tribune and Inside NU while broadcasting college sports for both radio and television. Dorsey is a graduate of Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism, where he also studied psychology. In his free time, he enjoys running and being outdoors. Dorsey is currently a freelance writer for the Associated Press, covering Chicago area sports teams.