It's a new age for college athletics.

Earlier this month, a federal judge approved the terms in the House versus NCAA settlement.

The settlement means universities can now directly pay student athletes through revenue sharing.

Some critics say college sports will never be the same.

But the University of Kentucky is embracing the new structure.

Our Emily Sisk has more on what this means for sports fans and the Kentucky Wildcats.

I think universities across the country can now opt in to revenue sharing, meaning part of the school's annual revenue goes straight to its athletes.

$20.5 million is the amount a school can give its players for the first year.

But where's that money coming from?

There's no infusion of 20.5 million coming from an outside source.

Each school is responsible for coming up with the additional revenue to make this work.

The big story here is how that money does, as you say, get divvied up or gets allocated between the different programs on campus.

Individual schools will get to choose.

You know how they divide that money up in between sports?

No, I expect you know that they expect there to be a lot of contention on various campuses, and you know how that is done.

Marc Story is a sports journalist with the Lexington Herald-Leader.

He says that contention will apply to the University of Kentucky.

They're sort of in a bit of a pickle with this, because obviously UC's marquee sports program has traditionally been men's basketball.

But the sport that makes the most money at the University of Kentucky is football.

And if you look at the kind of the evolving nature of college athletics, it's football that dictates, you know, what conference these conference rooms, alignments.

And if you want to be regarded as, you know, a quote unquote highest level program, football is kind of the key to that.

UC's board of trustees held a meeting last Thursday to discuss implications of the new structure.

Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart said while football and men's basketball rake in the most money, they'll be basing their decision on more than just that.

It was really clear to also point out they've never been in the business of ranking teams.

They've never said this is our number one.

And then on down the list, it's always been someone competing for a championship, and one sport is working just as hard and is worth just as much as someone competing for a championship in another sport.

But obviously it does have to get allocated in some way or it does have to get divided up.

So I want to ask specifically if that decision has been made and if not, when it will be made.

He kept that a little close to the vest, and the follow up obviously was, are you worried about a competitive disadvantage?

Right.

If other schools know how much you're giving to football versus basketball or volleyball or swimming down the list?

And he said, no, I'm not worried about a competitive disadvantage at all.

While UK has yet to reveal how they'll split up the $20.5 million, other schools in the Southeastern Conference have gone public.

Georgia to name one in the SEC.

I think it said 75% football, 15% men's basketball, 5% women's basketball, and then 5% everything else.

The new system brings up equity concerns when it comes to dividing money between men's and women's programs.

I think title nine is a really obvious question in terms of how this impacts women's sports on every campus, as opposed to men's sports.

That's UK and everywhere else in the country.

There's already been some appeals filed against that initial House settlement, so we might have more information in the days, weeks, months, years to come.

These things obviously take time.

The University of Kentucky says they're leading the charge in embracing the new system.

But one of the biggest questions remains how all the changes impact sports fans.

I think the key thing to know is there's just a whole lot we don't know.

I think probably the first concern for your fans is is it going to raise ticket prices?

You know, we'll see.

It's hard to imagine.

You know, everything goes up over time.

So I would assume it will.

I don't know that it necessarily will immediately.

So many fans who watch this or read anything about this are kind of bogged down by the details.

And I think come kickoff or tip off or whatever it is, people won't care.

They'll just want to see their team win.

The new revenue sharing system begins on July 1st.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Emily Sisk.

Kentucky Edition also reached out to the University of Louisville to check on its plans following the settlement.

The card's athletic department said it has no statement at this time.