NCAA, Power Five approve antitrust settlement, paving way for college athlete revenue model 

The NCAA and the nation’s top five conferences approved a roughly $2.8 billion antitrust settlement, paving the way for a new revenue-sharing model that could increase compensation for student-athletes.

NCAA President Charlie Baker In a joint statement The commissioners of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern Conference confirmed Thursday that they have agreed to terms to resolve a series of antitrust lawsuits against them.

“The agreement by the five autonomous conferences and the NCAA to settlement terms marks an important step in the continuing reform of college sports that will benefit student-athletes for years to come and bring transparency to all sectors of college sports,” the statement said.

The terms were not disclosed, but Multiple media The settlement, reportedly worth about $2.77 billion, will be distributed over 10 years to more than 14,000 former and current college athletes who were denied benefits from sponsorship and endorsement deals dating back to 2016.

If approved, the deal would dramatically change the revenue-sharing model for school athletic departments, allowing students to be paid more like professional athletes and allowing schools to compete for talent through direct payments, the Associated Press reported.

“This landmark settlement brings college sports into the 21st century and ensures that college athletes will finally receive their fair share of the billions of dollars in revenue they bring to their schools,” Steve Berman, one of the plaintiffs’ lead attorneys, told The Associated Press. “Our clients are the foundation of the NCAA’s multi-billion-dollar business, and they will finally be compensated in a fair and equitable way for their extraordinary athletic abilities.”

In 2021, the NCAA lifted a previous ban on allowing student-athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness (NIL) after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that limits on student-athlete compensation violated the Sherman Act, an antitrust law.

According to the Associated Press, the new compensation model would allow, but not require, each school to set aside up to $21 million a year for its athletes. Athletes from all sports would be eligible to receive compensation, and schools would be able to decide how to distribute the funds among their sports programs.

The agreement, which still needs federal court approval, is in response to three antitrust lawsuits that accused the NCAA of failing to pay compensation for the use of NIL.

The House v. NCAA lawsuit at the center of the settlement was scheduled for trial in January before settlement talks got underway in earnest. The settlement reached this week is also expected to include two other antitrust lawsuits against the NCAA and the major conferences, according to the Associated Press.

The debate over NIL pay has come to a head in Congress in recent years, with at least seven bills on pay benchmark rules having been introduced in the House or Senate since 2020. None have been successful.

Earlier this month, Republican Reps. Russell Frye of South Carolina and Barry Moore of Alabama Ball Protection LawThis would allow them to “provide new benefits to student-athletes, establish and enforce rules, and comply with the law without constantly running the risk of costly litigation.”

In addition to the NIL compensation lawsuit, the NCAA is facing separate lawsuits from states challenging some of the association’s rules, including player recruiting incentives and multiple transfers.

The bill proposed by Frye and Moore seeks to protect the NCAA from lawsuits and establish federal guardrails on player compensation for NIL, recruiting and eligibility standards.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.