How the House v. NCAA Settlement Will Affect Stanford Football

The college sports world changed over the weekend. On Friday, a legal settlement was approved that allows schools to begin paying their athletes directly, allowing for even more governing of student-athlete compensation. And what makes this decision so groundbreaking is how this situation basically gives institutions a salary cap to work with.

Each year, schools will be permitted, but not required, to spend around $20.5 million in payments for their student-athletes. Schools can decide how they want to divvy up the payments. And while it is still unknown how each program will divide their money, it is expected that most of the money will be allocated towards football and men's basketball for most schools.

When it comes to Stanford football, this is a great opportunity to land top tier talent. Since the NIL era began, the Cardinal have struggled to remain in the national spotlight, with former head coach David Shaw having a difficult time adjusting to the recruiting that comes during the NIL and transfer portal era.

But now, the Cardinal can really hone in on the guys they want, and show how much they want those guys by offering to pay them accordingly.

The Cardinal were already having a tremendous offseason when it came to recruiting, landing a strong crop of players in the 2025 class while also beginning to put together their 2026 class-- headlined by four-star talent, Daylen Sharper. Hiring Andrew Luck as the general manager last November, the Cardinal have gone all-in on returning to national prominence.

As things currently stand, the Cardinal have a lot of uncertainty heading into 2025 and beyond. After firing head coach Troy Taylor in March and bringing in an interim in Frank Reich, the longterm direction of the Cardinal program is murky, with a national search for a permanent head coach still expected to take place.

But now that the ruling has been passed, the Cardinal can still go all-in on the players they want and continue to build a winning team despite having a lot stuff to still hammer out.

But as is the case with most things, the ruling can also create some issues that could be detrimental to bringing players in. Now that players can get paid directly from the school, there is an argument to be made about whether or not they are employees of the school and should be treated as such.

This could create situations that force the pursuit of a player to drag out while for the players, they most likely will need to hire agents and/or lawyers to make sure everything goes smoothly. With that happening, recruiting could become much more difficult and be much more work than it already is.

Regardless of how Stanford chooses to allocate its money, the new ruling has the potential to be very advantageous. Once a national powerhouse, Stanford has failed to make an appearance in a bowl game since 2018, have not had a winning record in a full season since 2018 and have gone 3-9 the last four seasons.

Now, the Cardinal can go all-in on getting the players that they believe will really help them and give the players that they really value a substantial payday.