A federal judge signed off on arguably the biggest change in the history of college sports on Friday, clearing the way for schools to begin paying their athletes millions of dollars as soon as next month as the multibillion-dollar industry shreds the last vestiges of the amateur model that defined it for more than a century.

A U.S. judge on Friday granted final approval to a $2.8 billion settlement with the National Collegiate Athletic Association that will allow schools for the first time to compensate student athletes for past and future commercial use of their names,

A federal judge just gave the green light to a landmark $2.8B settlement that changes everything for college athletes, allowing schools to directly pay players for the first time.