Notre Dame released a statement following its shock settlement with the NCAA and did not blur its position on possible compensation for players.
On Thursday, the NCAA and the nation’s top five conferences agreed to pay roughly $2.8 billion to settle several antitrust lawsuits.
The agreement, which must be approved by a federal court, puts at risk what Notre Dame calls “America’s great collegiate athletic institution” and could result in a ruling that could see the university distribute millions of dollars directly to players’ pockets in a revenue-sharing plan.
“While this settlement is undesirable in many ways and promises only temporary stability, it is necessary to avoid the collapse of college sports.” The university’s president, the Rev. John I. Jenkins, CSC, said in a statement: “To save America’s great college sports institutions, Congress must pass legislation that preempts the current patchwork of state laws, establishes that our athletes are not employees but students pursuing college degrees, and protects them from further antitrust lawsuits so that universities can enact and enforce rules that help protect student-athletes and ensure fairness in competition between teams.”
The $2.8 billion settlement will be paid out over 10 years to more than 14,000 former and current college athletes who claim they were barred from receiving sponsorship and advertising revenue dating back to 2016 under now-repealed rules.
The decision would create a compensation system similar to that in professional sports and establish a revenue-sharing fund that would allow schools to distribute up to $22 million a year to players.
Questions still remain surrounding the deal, including how it will affect Notre Dame and its independence from the NCAA conference.
“It was only because of overwhelming legal pressure that the NCAA, conferences and universities agreed that college athletes should be paid,” former UCLA football player Ramogi Huma told The Associated Press, “and there’s no going back from there.”
“That’s really groundbreaking.”
— The Associated Press
