What's next for University of Wisconsin athletics after the House vs. NCAA settlement

MADISON – When U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken gave final approval to a settlement of three antitrust cases against the NCAA and the Power Five Conferences June 6, the curtain was officially raised on a new era of college athletics.

Now the real work begins.

Major college athletic departments can now pay their student-athletes directly but also must comply with more stringent rules for NIL deals and adhere to uniform guidelines for roster sizes.

At Wisconsin the job will be to adjust to those changes while managing an athletic program that features 11 men’s and 12 women’s teams and attempting to maintain the standards of an athletic program that has been pretty competitive across the board.

Wisconsin director of athletics Chris McIntosh called the day historic and said the settlement is a large step toward providing stability in college sports.

“We will not compromise on our commitment to education, broad-based opportunity and competitive excellence,” he went on to say in a statement issued by Wisconsin Athletics. “That said, we have, and will continue, to evolve in the way in which we operate. We have been preparing for this development for years and are confident in our strategy. We believe Wisconsin is well positioned to thrive in this new environment.”

How will Wisconsin divide the pie?

There is no word on how the athletic department will split the estimated $20-$23 million allotment it will receive for the 2025-26 school year to pay its athletes for use of their name, image and likeness, but football and men’s basketball, the department’s biggest money-makers, are expected to take the largest shares.

The popular estimate for Power Four athletic programs is about 75% for football, 15% for men’s basketball and the final 10% going to the rest of the programs.

In addition to the money a student-athlete gets directly from the school, NIL opportunities will still be available, though the deals athletes agree to will have more guidelines than in the past.

 The Badgers will have to make due with less

Some of UW's rosters will be significantly smaller due to newly introduced roster limits. The trade off is increased scholarship limits for every sport.

Almost all the Badgers’ teams for 2024-25 school year were within a few players of meeting the newly established roster limits. The biggest exception was football, which stands at 114 players, nine more than the limit, when transfer portal additions and departures and the arrival of incoming freshmen are taken into account.

Here are the new roster maximums for each of the sport the Badgers offer. Athletic departments can provide a scholarship for each roster spot if it chooses. though it is not required.

Also note that an athletic department doesn’t have to fill its rosters to that limit. No roster limits were given for men’s rowing or women’s lightweight rowing, two UW sports that are not under the NCAA umbrella.

Men’s sports roster limits: basketball 15, cross country 17, football 105, golf 9, hockey 26, soccer 28, swimming and diving 28, tennis 10, track and field 45, wrestling 30.

Women’s sports roster limits: basketball 15, cross country 17, golf 9, hockey 26, rowing 68, soccer 28, softball 25, swimming and diving 30, tennis 10, track and field 45, volleyball 18.

Will UW make exceptions to roster limits?

One of the points of contention with the initial settlement deal was the immediate use of roster limits. The amended proposal approved last week gives schools the option of grandfathering in any athlete, who was cut or lost a scholarship offer because of roster limits.

Those athletes are called Designated Student Athletes. They won’t count against the roster limit for the remainder of their eligibility no matter if they transfer from their original school.

If UW has any Designated Student Athletes it must identify them by July 6.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: What's next for Wisconsin athletics after the House vs. NCAA settlement