The collegiate athletics landscape is undergoing historic change. UC San Diego is committed to meeting this moment—adapting to the evolving model while continuing to invest in comprehensive excellence and the scholar-athlete experience.
On June 6, 2025, the House v. NCAA settlement—a landmark 10-year agreement addressing long-standing issues in intercollegiate athletics—was approved. Beginning in the 2025–26 academic year, this settlement will bring substantial change across all of Division I athletics. This moment along with the news that UC San Diego will transition to the West Coat Conference on July 1, 2027, marks a new chapter for us.
What the House Settlement Means for College Athletics and UC San Diego
The House settlement, along with new NCAA policies, will allow Division I institutions to directly support student-athletes in new ways:
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Direct NIL Payments to Student-Athletes: Starting July 1, 2025, institutions may pay student-athletes directly for the use of their name, image, and likeness (NIL), up to a capped amount of $20.5 million annually.
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Expanded Athletics Scholarships: The settlement removes existing NCAA scholarship caps and replaces them with roster limits per sport. Institutions can now offer full athletics scholarships up to those roster limits, creating more opportunity and flexibility for student-athletes.
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Back Payments to Former Student-Athletes: The NCAA will pay out $2.78 billion over the next decade to settle antitrust lawsuits. Payments will go to former student-athletes from 2016 to 2024 who were impacted by prior restrictions.
By opting-in, UC San Diego is now allowed to enter into NIL agreements directly with scholar-athletes and must adhere to the roster limits for each sport.
The Need for Support
UC San Diego is committed to building a championship culture in the classroom and in competition. We plan to align our approach with this new era to remain competitive across the board and prepare for our upcoming transition to the WCC. We will need to generate incremental support for NIL, mainly for our basketball programs, while evaluating our possibilities to enhance athletic scholarship offers to support growth across many programs.
Being able to provide additional athletic financial assistance to our scholarships will provide us with a competitive advantage and flexibility to recruit and retain the best scholar-athletes to UC San Diego.
NIL Support
To stay competitive in the WCC, especially in basketball, UC San Diego must allocate nearly $3 million annually to NIL.
Scholarships
The introduction of roster limits per sports provides us with an opportunity to fund additional scholarships. This is key in our goal to become the top non-football institution.
Sport-Specific
Sport-specific support allows our head coaches with the resources to address their top priorities and put their program in a position to succeed.
How You Can Make An Impact
Together, the Triton community can help enhance the athletics department and ensure we remain competitive by directly supporting our Triton scholar-athletes.
Attending Events
Buying tickets and supporting our teams by showing up (and bringing others!) makes a difference.