Florida officials let public universities free up millions to pay student-athletes

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida’s public universities can free up $22.5 million a year to compensate student-athletes under an emergency rule approved by a state board Wednesday ahead of a landmark legal settlement allowing schools to pay their players through licensing deals.

The sprawling $2.8 billion antitrust settlement, going into effect July 1, allows schools to directly pay their pay their players for the use of their name, image and likeness. It’s upending the way college sports have been run for more than a century and has sent universities across the country scrambling for new revenue streams in the hopes of gaining an edge — or at least keeping pace — in the rapidly evolving and highly competitive field of college athletics.