In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, Mike Lucas and Tom Oates react to the NCAA agreeing to a historic settlement to end class-action lawsuits brought by student athletes. Thousands of former and current college players will receive a share of $2.8 billion in damages. The settlement also clears the way, for the first time, for schools to directly pay student athletes through shared revenue plans. 

“It’s a first step in regaining control over what’s going on. Reform is needed. Right now, there are no guard rails on the transfer portal or NIL (name, image, likeness) money,” says Oates, a former Wisconsin State Journal sports columnist. “Coaches and administrators will take as much slack as you give them. NIL is so out of control, it’s unbelievable. Something has to be done.”

Oates says the NCAA’s settlement might be a legal framework for schools to treat student athletes like employees. 

“This might be a prelude to 60 or 70 schools breaking away and becoming their own bosses,” says Oates. “That way universities can start to bargain for some level of salary cap…and do away with NIL.”  

In the meantime, Lucas says fans are becoming fed up with the dramatic roster changes every season. The Wisconsin men’s basketball team lost more than half dozen players to the transfer portal this year, including stars AJ Storr and Chucky Hepburn.  

“When talking to some Badger boosters, they are really upset about Chucky Hepburn. That one put them over the edge,” says Lucas. “I don’t hold this personally against Hepburn. He’s just a product of this new system.”

The Wisconsin Sportscast with Lucas & Oates is a Cap Times podcast produced by Nate Wegehaupt. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.