Tag: House v. NCAA

Nov 11, 2023; College Station, Texas, USA; A detailed view of the SEC logo on a chain marker during the game between the Texas A&M Aggies and the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker-USA TODAY Sports

Report: NCAA agrees to settlement in House v. NCAA

Posted on | by Field Level Media

Former college athletes are due for a payday after the NCAA Board of Governors voted to agree to settle House v. NCAA and other antitrust cases related to it, ESPN reported Wednesday.

With the NCAA’s board agreeing to the terms of the settlement, former college athletes are one step closer to getting over $2.7 billion in back damages over the next decade because of previous restrictions on Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals.

Future athletes would also benefit, as the Big 12, Atlantic Coast Conference and Big Ten — three of the defendants in the case — are hoping to put a system in place that would give schools the power to pay them about $20 million per year in permissive revenue sharing.

Such payments wouldn’t start until fall of 2025.

The ACC and Big 12 had already accepted the terms of the settlement, doing so on Tuesday. The Big Ten joined in on Wednesday, and now the Southeastern Conference and Pac-12 just need to submit their approval.

Both the SEC and Pac-12 are expected to approve the terms later this week, per ESPN’s report.

It is expected that a settlement will officially be reached, and if that were the case, the schools and the NCAA would avoid going to court, where they could have had to pay over $4 billion in damages if they lost.

Per ESPN’s report, the plaintiffs in the case could also dismiss two other antitrust cases against the NCAA that are currently pending and could possibly add billions of dollars in damages to the association’s plate.

–Field Level Media

Oct 21, 2023; Houston, Texas, USA; General view of the Big 12 logo on the field at TDECU Stadium before the game between the Houston Cougars and the Texas Longhorns. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Reports: Big 12 first to agree to House v. NCAA settlement

Posted on | by Field Level Media

The presidents and chancellors of the Big 12 Conference voted unanimously to authorize the settlement of House v. NCAA, Yahoo Sports and ESPN reported Tuesday.

The Big 12 is the first power conference to take that step, with the ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC expected to join it in the coming days.

If and when the settlement is approved, athletes will be given a much larger share of the pie of college sports revenue. According to the reports, one of the chief features of the settlement is a fund of nearly $2.8 billion in back damages for former college athletes who were not allowed to capitalize on their name, image and likeness (NIL) rights before 2021.

The NCAA would pay those damages out over 10 years and about 60 percent of it will come from payments withheld by the NCAA to member schools, according to Yahoo.

The settlement also would establish a revenue-sharing model, likely in the fall of 2025, that forever changes how college athletes can make money. The cap would equal 22 percent of the average of a power conference school’s media rights, ticket sales and sponsorship income, Yahoo reported.

The third major change the settlement would bring roster limits to power-conference sports.

The power conferences believe settling House vs. NCAA is the right decision in order to avoid being on the hook for an even larger number in damages in the future, reports said.

The move is not universally popular. Big East commissioner Val Ackerman told member schools of her “strong objection” to the settlement proposal in an email this weekend, Yahoo reported. At issue was how much the Big East, a non-football playing school, would be responsible for in back damages when the FBS conferences’ liability is “disproportionately high.”

–Field Level Media