Arbitration case could bring change to college sports' 'messy middle'

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Less than a year after implementing a multibillion-dollar settlement designed to bring stability to college sports, the richest teams in football are blowing past the spending cap their schools agreed to follow, testing the strength of the thin tethers that keep all 138 Football Bowl Subdivision programs competing under the same tent.

The deal, known as the House settlement, established a set of rules for paying players that was intended to prevent the top programs from spending at a pace that made it impossible for the 100-plus other schools to compete. But driven by a fear of falling behind their peers and a lack of faith that any rules can…