University of Houston among many colleges to begin direct payments to student athletes

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Some call the change "inevitable." Others decry the end of amateur sports at the college level.

Starting on Tuesday, July 1, schools like the University of Houston, the University of Texas, Texas A&M, and more across the country will begin direct payments to their athletes.

Recently, ABC13 asked UH men's basketball head coach Kelvin Sampson if the landmark change would bring sanity to a landscape many called the "Wild West" of the NIL era, with players making millions.

Sampson paused while he considered his answer. "Sanity has been gone," he told ABC13.

Schools will be allowed to distribute a total of $20.5 million a year to their athletes. Most schools will distribute the largest percentage to their revenue producing sports, football, and men's basketball.

UH athletic director Eddie Nuñez hailed the Cougars' commitment to pay the maximum allowed as a statement to the rest of the country that UH can field great teams in many sports.

"For us to make this commitment keeps us competitive not just in the Big 12," he said. "It allows us to keep and retain the student athletes that want to be here."

Nuñez uses the word "retain" in reference to the practice that has become common in college athletics - big time programs poaching talent from smaller schools with lucrative NIL payments.

Former Major League Baseball executive Bryan Seeley has been hired as CEO of the new College Sports Commission. He'll lead the team that's in charge of enforcing new rules regarding payments to players deciding what's allowed and what's not. Seeley and his team will set up a group that will verify payments for name, image, and likeness compensation serve a valid purpose and aren't simply a cash payment to lure recruits to certain schools. Seeley and his team will also enforce the rules and hand out punishments for infractions, removing the NCAA from that part of the process.

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