Richard Kent has followed college sports since the 1960s.
He’s especially passionate about basketball — the Ivy League in particular. Last summer he published “The Madness of Ivy Basketball” — an ode to the 8-team institution.
Kent says that April 7, 2025 will be the most momentous day in American sports history.
The action won’t be on a court, however.
It will be in one.
On that day, final approval is expected for a historic $2.78 billion antitrust lawsuit settlement. The ruling, in California federal court, sets the foundation for athletes to receive money directly from colleges.
The National Collegiate Athletic Conference (NCAA) and 5 power conferences have agreed that schools can directly compensate athletes, for the billions of dollars those students are earning for their institutions.
Since 2021, college athletes can receive “name, image and likeness” (NIL) compensation through third parties, including brand endorsements, merchandise sales and “NIL collectives.”
The April 7 guidelines are also expected to include roster caps for individual sports, which will replace current scholarship limits. For example, men’s lacrosse teams are now limited to a scholarship equivalency of 12.6; women’s teams have 12.
Under the settlement men’s rosters will include up to 48 players, while women’s rosters can expand to 38.
This will have a seismic effect on college athletics, in all sports.
And even though the Ivy League does not permit athletic scholarships, it will be affected, Kent predicts. With money flowing even more freely to athletes at other top colleges — think Virginia, Georgetown and Duke — the Ivies may become less attractive to students in towns like Westport.
Kent is no barstool observer. A Westport resident since 1992, he grew up in New Haven. He sold pennants and programs at the Yale Bowl; is the color commentator for many men’s and women’s basketball games on Yale radio station WYBC, and contributes stories to Ivy Hoops Online.
He is not, however, a Yale alum. Kent calls himself “the proud owner of a rejection letter” from the school. He graduated from Rutgers University, then earned a law degree at Boston College.
His day job is as a litigator. He specializes in fathers’ rights. He’s written 11 books, on subjects ranging from parental law to Roger Federer.
Kent also teaches sports law at Fairfield University’s Dolan School of Business, and Rutgers’ law school.
Richard Kent
With leagues like the Big 10 and SEC soon to be permitted to pay up to $20.5 million directly to athletes — on top of the sums already permitted through NIL collectives and other means (a Duke quarterback just signed a 2-year, $8 million deal; University of Connecticut women’s basketball star Paige Bueckers’ NIL deal is worth more than the WNBA maximum salary) — Kent predicts a “revolution” in college athletics.
One in which the Ivy League will not participate.
As a result, Kent says, they’ll leave themselves far behind.
While the Ivies allow NIL money to be paid to student-athletes, they don’t encourage it. There are no official Ivy League collecticuves (though, Kent says, he knows of at least 3 men’s basketball players being paid by alumni).
Already, that principled stance has caused an exodus. Players have left Yale, Harvard and Penn for Michigan, Georgetown and Villanova, respectively.
“The Ivy recruiting mantra has always been ‘you’re making a 40-year decision, not a 4-year one,” Kent says.
But as the college athletics landscape changes, greater amounts of money in exchange for playing sports will become increasingly attractive.
Of course, not everyone will share equally. Fifty percent of the revenue that will go directly to athletes is earmarked for football players. Another 18% goes to men’s basketball, with 5% to women’s basketball.
The remaining 27% will be divided up by every other sport: lacrosse, soccer, baseball, softball, rowing, ice hockey, etc.
It’s not just the power conferences and Ivy League that will be impacted by the April 7 ruling, Kent notes.
The entire world of college sports — including Division II and III, and the NCAA itself — will be affected.
“I don’t know what the NCAA is anymore,” the attorney, professor and writer says.
“I don’t know what role they’ll play in the future. We’re really looking at what could be semipro athletics.”
Westport athletes (and parents): Take note.
