A perfect storm has been brewing over the last couple of decades as Division I college football and basketball has grown in popularity. While the NCAA and universities have been reaping the benefits, the athletes decided that enough was enough. They wanted in.

U.S. District judge Claudia Wilken ruled on Aug. 8 that “the NCAA’s limits on what Bowl Subdivision football and Division I men’s basketball players can receive for playing sports ‘unreasonably restrain trade’ in violation of antitrust laws,” according to USA Today.

Additionally, an injunction was imposed stating that beginning in the 2016-17 school year, athletes in those two sports will have the opportunity to not only receive scholarships covering the full cost of attendance but also “deferred compensation” for the school’s use of their likeness, images, and names.

This decision has been something that many have described as “a long time coming” whether it be athletes or administrative personnel.

One such person is Pace’s Director of Athletics Mark Brown who spent 18 years at Old Dominion’s Athletic Department.

“After being in a Division I school for so many years, I really got to see just how much pressure builds up over time,” Brown said. “I just felt maxed out with what I could do at Old Dominion.”

One of Brown’s concerns with Division I is that is seems to have become more about the money and less about the students, which is the opposite for Division II and III.

But with plans to allow student athletes in these two sports to receive compensations seems to further this concern. Essentially this can create a have and have-nots situation, more so than already exists.

The way the current system is set up there are the big school teams such as those in the Big-10, a Rutgers or a Purdue, followed by a tier of schools, each on different levels.

The new future rules will now further separate these teams even further.

“I think the conference rules will probably be different for sure,” said Pace men’s basketball head coach Pat Kennedy, who spent 31 years as a coach in various Division I schools. “It really comes down to economics. Cost of attendance has increased across the board. The big BCS schools can always negotiate new TV deals, but the lower lever schools will have a tough time competing.”

Kennedy also noted that since the NCAA Basketball tournament is a means of major funds for the NCAA, it essentially becomes the “golden goose” of the case, something the NCAA must protect at all costs.

“If you begin to have this even bigger degree of separation between the conferences, then the bigger schools might not even want to play in the tournament, or it might become a more exclusive deal,” said Kennedy. “The NCAA has to make sure they keep everyone happy.”

This opens up the doors to another pressing matter- if student athletes are allowed compensation, do they become school employees?

An argument can be made that student athletes in these Division I programs are essentially employees given that they are making money for their respective schools.

But for student-athletes it can be an empowering notion. According to Kennedy, transfers have already become a bigger deal.

“If a player wants to move to another school for more money they should be able to,” said Kennedy. “It essentially creates a domino effect because then you’re going to have students probably having to pay taxes; they’ll have to get accountants.”

“The complexity gets worse from there,” says Brown. “They would also need health care, a retirement strategy. In essence it becomes a situation where you are trying to assign value to the cost of attendance.”

Another concern is this term of “amateurism”- the idea that student athletes are student’s first, athletes second. This ideology, according to the NCAA, is meant to preserve the “academic environment.”

However, it’s a philosophy that can be said to have long since been thrown out, seeing as Division I men’s football and basketball has become a business.

“If you are playing Division I sports you are not an amateur anymore,” said sophomore guard Marcos Oliveira. “Many of those players are already playing at a professional level. The idea of amateurism is something the NCAA came up with so that they could get all the revenues and not reward the ones who truly deserve compensation: the players. After all, playing in front of thousands of people and generating millions of dollars seems pretty professional to me.”

While it might seem like a professional level, for the NBA and NFL Div. I schools have essentially been used as the “minor leagues”- those drafted usually go off to the big leagues, although the NBA has the D-League.

Although it can be agreed upon that athletes should get compensation, not everyone agrees that it should come in the form of some Benjamins.

Head football coach Andy Rondeau believes that this has become a product of greed, while head women’s basketball coach Carrie Seymour believes it’s a bit sad that a scholarship covering the full cost of living doesn’t seem to be a big enough benefit anymore.

“I know that 90 percent of students here would love to have a scholarship covering all their costs,” said Seymour. “This new system really changes everything and essentially diminishes the value of the full athletic scholarship. It almost gives more power to the bigger schools. I would like to see things stay relatively the same with the NCAA still having the power to make decisions, but who knows where this goes at this point.”

Despite all the concerns and questions this ruling raises, there is much left to be figured out before anything is put to play. While currently it really only affects Division I schools, it could eventually trickle down to the Div. II and III schools, according to Brown.

“I keep thinking one day I might wake up and there will be a top 5 conference and then everything else just moves down to Division II,” said Brown. “But I think that’s really too pessimistic.”

All that’s left to do is wait.