Steve Lutz embraces new beginning: Multibillion-dollar shift in college sports

A multibillion-dollar announcement marked a new era in college sports, as schools can now begin paying athletes directly, and OSU head coach Steve Lutz says it could be a monumental thing moving forward.

"I think it's here, right? So why would we not embrace it?" said Steve Lutz. "I mean, this has been a long time coming. I've said it from day one that, there's a lot of money that is made in college athletics and for the students to be able to share in that. There's no reason that they shouldn't be able to. Now, with all that being said, I think we've still got some issues to work out."

The cap is set to be around $20.5 million with $2.8 million in scholarships, depending on the school.

On top of these athletes being paid by programs, anyone who competed from 2016 to now is eligible for back pay from the NCAA. Over the 10-year span, a total of $23.1 million will be dispersed throughout. 80% to football, 15% to basketball and 5% to all other sports.

Current athletes will receive a payout from the school on top of their scholarship and in other ways outside of that.

"Yeah, I mean, they're loving it. I mean, you get a scholarship and, you get paid for, you know, being a great athlete or, you know, being on a collegiate basketball team. So I don't see the downside of it for them, right? I mean, it's a pretty good deal. I'd like to go back and be in college if I were them" said Lutz.

Those paydays can begin on July 1st.