Lawyers managing the $2.8 billion NCAA settlement suggested a significant revision on Wednesday regarding roster constraints, allowing athletes who were displaced to participate without affecting the new limits for the remainder of their eligibility.

The lawyers, who were told by the court to create a new plan, suggested in court papers that schools should make lists of all the players they got rid of because they expected the agreement to be approved. This number could easily be hundreds, or even much more.

These "Designated Student-Athletes," as they are called in the new legal papers, can be asked to come back and try for a place on the team – but there's no guarantee – or they can go to different schools.

However, these athletes will not be included in the new team size limits that were announced last fall and first approved by U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken in October.

The proposal would also extend the exemption to high school recruits whose promised spots were subsequently withdrawn and would remain valid for the duration of those players' collegiate eligibility.

Wilken has already approved the main parts of the deal. This includes letting each school give up to $20.5 million every year directly to their athletes. It also includes over $2.7 billion in money for past years that will go to players who said the NCAA and five biggest conferences unfairly stopped them from making money from their name, image, and likeness.

The latest proposal finished two weeks of urgent work after Wilken told the lawyers for both sides to go back and negotiate again, saying the details about the roster limit in the plan were not acceptable.

The proposed strategy involves substituting current scholarship ceilings (such as 85 for football and 9.9 for men's wrestling) with roster size restrictions (105 for football, 30 for wrestling). While an institution could extend scholarships to all team members, the financial implications would likely lead to the exclusion of walk-on players or those receiving partial scholarships, according to most projections.

Wilken's sympathy for the numerous players who lost their places on teams as schools prepared to put the settlement terms into effect was evident; approximately twelve of these individuals shared their experiences during a hearing on April 7.

Wilken told the lawyers to change that part of the agreement. The NCAA first replied by saying they would not change anything, even though Wilken suggested letting current players keep their spots. The NCAA said changing things that were already happening would make the already difficult process even more confusing. But Wilken told them to make the changes anyway, or the whole plan would be in danger.

The lawyers for the plaintiffs said they improved on Wilken's idea. They not only allowed schools to bring back players they had previously cut without it affecting their team limit, but also made this exception available for new schools.

In their court submission, the plaintiffs contend that these alterations to the settlement agreement go beyond the safeguards stipulated by the court.

The attorneys stated there is no assurance that the athletes will regain their roster positions.

They wrote, “The defendants claimed that the changes to the agreement mean that schools and their sports departments can still choose which athletes are on their teams. But this was always true and doesn’t change with or without team size limits.” They added, “The updates to the agreement make sure that people who lost or would have lost their place on a team because of the new size limits will be in the same situation as if the limits were never put in place. This means the team size limits don’t affect them.”

The judge will probably give people who are against the plan a short time to send in their new complaints before she makes her final decision. Steve Berman, one of the main lawyers for the people who sued, said earlier this week that those who are against the plan will not like the new idea.

Time is running out for the NCAA and its 1,200 member institutions, which collectively comprise over 500,000 athletes across numerous sports. The settlement provisions were scheduled to commence on July 1, with football practice beginning shortly thereafter.