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.

After months of deliberation, judge Claudia Wilken approved the House v. NCAA settlement, requiring universities to pay athletes. The ruling means players will get a portion of the billions of dollars in broadcast revenue they help generate and will be exempt from being official university employees.