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Paul Finebaum issues warning on future of college sports following settlement approval
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Paul Finebaum is concerned about the future of college athletics.
Finebaum made new comments this week in the wake of the House vs. NCAA settlement being officially approved. With that settlement finalized, universities will now be able to pay student-athletes directly. The cap is expected to be $20.5 million for the first year.
Finebaum believes this new financial structure will be detrimental for small schools — and college athletics as a whole.
“I couldn’t help but think back about 10 years ago, when Mark Emmert, then the President of the NCAA, essentially said college athletes will be paid over my dead body,” Finebaum said on SportsCenter this weekend, via Awful Announcing. “He’s still alive, but the NCAA is dead. It may still be in existence. We’re still having tournaments, such as the Women’s World Series and the Men’s Baseball Tournament, but the NCAA, as we know it, is gone. They literally have no jurisdiction whatsoever other than to be tournament directors.
“This was supposed to level the playing field. Everybody pays the same into the kitty and then divides it up, but it will do anything but. The big will get bigger, and the small schools will simply slip away.”
As part of the House vs. NCAA settlement, third-party NIL payments above $600 will now be scrutinized by an NIL Go Clearinghouse. However, there remains significant questions over how those payments will be regulated in this new era of college athletics.
The 2025 college football season is less than 3 months away with Week 1 action slated for Aug. 30.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
