No final agreement has been reached, and many questions remain unanswered. It's also unclear whether the new rules can withstand further legal scrutiny, but college sports appear to be headed down a revolutionary path with at least some schools paying athletes directly to participate. Here's what's known and what remains to be discovered:
the case
House vs. NCAA is a federal class action lawsuit seeking damages for athletes who have been denied the opportunity, since 2016, to earn money from the use of their name, image or likeness – often referred to by the acronym NIL. The plaintiffs, including former Arizona State swimmer Grant House, are also asking the court to rule that the NIL's damages must include billions of dollars in media rights fees that go to the NCAA and the richest conferences (Big Ten, Big 12, Atlantic Coast and Southeastern). ), mostly for football and basketball.
how much?
The settlement being discussed could pay the NCAA nearly $3 billion in damages over 10 years, with the help of insurance and withholding of distributions that would have gone to the four major conferences. Last year, NCAA revenue It approached $1.3 billion The association expects a steady rise in the coming years, thanks mostly to increases in the television contract with CBS and Warner Bros. Discovery for the men's basketball tournament. New eight-year contract with ESPN, worth $920 million for the Division I women's basketball tournament and other championship events to go into effect in 2025.
The potential settlement also calls for a $300 million commitment from each school in those four conferences over 10 years, including about $20 million annually directed toward paying athletes' salaries. Officials warned that this could lead to the program Cuts for so-called non-revenue sports Familiar to fans who watch the Olympic Games.
“It's the Olympic sports that will be at risk,” Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne said during a news conference in March. A committee in Washington led by Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas). “Those men and women. If you look at the numbers for us at the University of Alabama, with the 19 sports we have outside of football and men's basketball, we collectively lost almost $40 million.”
Who gets paid?
It's not entirely clear. And it's supposed to start with the athletes in the sports that generate the most revenue: the football and men's basketball players in the biggest and wealthiest programs. Women's basketball will likely be next in line, but it's possible that athletes in all sports will see some benefit — but perhaps not at all schools.
What is being considered is allowing schools to pay athletes, but not requiring those payments. Schools that don't make millions in TV revenue won't necessarily be in trouble. There are also unanswered questions about whether the federal gender equity law, Title IX, would require equal funding for male and female athletes.
Who is making the call?
Getting the presidential councils of the four conferences and the NCAA Board of Governors to approve the settlement is not a given, let alone the plaintiffs in the House case. However, the prospect of having to pay $4 billion in damages — and the NCAA has been on the losing end in several recent court cases — has spurred interest in the deal before the trial begins in January.
The case is being heard in the Northern District of California by U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilkin, who has already ruled against other NCAAs Historical antitrust litigation He ordered the two sides in the House of Representatives to seek a settlement.
Labor and collective bargaining
Settlement Existing cases It is only one step. A new system for compensating college athletes will be needed to avoid similar challenges in the future; For example, anything that looks like a cap on damages, for example, by the Big Four conferences would be ripe for another lawsuit.
The NCAA has asked Congress for some type of antitrust relief for years, but the focus has recently shifted from regulating NIL compensation to preventing athletes from being considered employees.
The ruling by the NLRB's regional director cleared the way for members of the Dartmouth men's basketball team to vote in favor Join a union Considered employees, many have advocated collective bargaining as a solution to college sports' antitrust exposure.
Jason Stahl, executive director of the advocacy group College Football Players Association, says lawmakers should create a special status for college athletes that gives them the right to organize and bargain collectively without actual employee status.
Although many college athletes are wary of being employees and joining a union, they should have the right to decide about it, Stahl said.
“My concern is that there will be some kind of tit-for-tat,” Stahl said of the lawsuit settlement, which was quickly followed by federal legislation to codify a revenue-sharing plan that barred athletes from employee status and the right to organize. “A lot of the things I hear about that cap are not things I want to hear.”
What then
There are too many moving parts to know for sure, although leveling the house seems to be a priority in the late spring or summer. The soonest any real changes will be noticed on campus will be fall of 2025.
