"He's still alive, but the NCAA is dead": Paul Finebaum shows blunt disapproval to $2.8 billion judgement while taking jab at ex-NCAA president

A federal judge approved a $2.8 billion antitrust settlement Friday, clearing the way for schools to directly pay athletes and dismantling the NCAA’s longtime model of amateurism. ESPN’s Paul Finebaum called the decision a death blow to the organization.

“I couldn’t help but think back [to] when Mark Emmert, then the President of the NCAA, essentially said college athletes will be paid over my dead body,” Finebaum said on ESPN College Football. “He’s still alive, but the NCAA is dead.” (Timestamp: 1:04)

Finebaum said the organization now has “no jurisdiction whatsoever other than to be tournament directors.” He dismissed the idea that the settlement would level the playing field, predicting it would instead deepen the divide:

“The big will get bigger, and the small schools will simply slip away—maybe [stick around] in basketball-only conferences.”

Looking ahead, Finebaum believes that major college sports will resemble a stripped-down version of March Madness, without the Cinderella stories.

“The mid-majors… they are going to be gone. It’s [just the] big schools on top.”

He also raised doubts about the new College Sports Commission’s ability to enforce rules, pointing to the NCAA’s failure to do so.

Finebaum warned of broader consequences: “There is such an existential threat.” Women’s sports will suffer, football will dominate the budgets, and the landscape will get more uneven. According to him, it's not fixable, and fans may start tuning out.

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Judge Claudia Wilken granted final approval of the House v. NCAA settlement

Judge Claudia Wilken has granted final approval of the House v. NCAA settlement, a $2.8 billion agreement that ends a five-year lawsuit against the NCAA and its top conferences. Starting July 1, schools can share up to $20.5 million annually in revenue with student-athletes, according to Brandon Marcello of CBS Sports.

The ruling ends the NCAA’s 119-year amateurism model and ushers in a semiprofessional era in college sports.

Approval was delayed after Wilken raised concerns that new roster limits could cut up to 5,000 scholarships. The NCAA and conferences addressed this by allowing schools to re-admit affected athletes if roster space was available. Wilken reviewed the solution for a month before signing off.

The settlement applies only to power conferences, widening the gap between wealthy programs and others. Not all schools will reach the $20.5 million cap, but top SEC and Big Ten teams are expected to use the full amount, giving them a recruiting edge.

A new oversight group, the College Sports Commission, will enforce revenue sharing and NIL rules. Former MLB executive Bryan Seeley is the leading candidate to run it.