NCAA and power conferences agree to $2.8 billion settlement (1)

The National Collegiate Athletics Association and its Power Five conferences have agreed to a nearly $2.8 billion settlement to resolve antitrust disputes after years of legal battles with student-athletes seeking fair compensation.

The proposed agreement is “an important step in the ongoing reform of college sports that will provide benefits to student-athletes and ensure transparency in college athletics across all sports for years to come,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a joint statement with conference commissioners.

The NCAA settlement, which will pay college athletes more than $2.75 billion over 10 years, is intended to prevent future lawsuits after the organization was hit with multiple lawsuits alleging the group exploits athletes and prohibits them from using the money earned for their images, names and likenesses.

The lawsuit seeks to resolve three ongoing antitrust cases, including one brought by college athletes who earned class status last year amid claims that the organization violated antitrust laws by failing to compensate them for the commercial use of their names and names and likenesses. This case went to court in January 2025, with the athletes seeking damages of up to $4.5 billion.

It would also eliminate NCAA and conference rules that prohibit direct payments from schools to athletes and allow schools to share revenue directly with college athletes through new payments and benefits, according to a statement from Hagens Berman and Winston & Strawn LLP, the firms representing athletes’ reasons.

“This landmark agreement will bring college sports into the 21st century, and college athletes will finally be able to receive their fair share of the billions of dollars in revenue they generate for their schools,” said Steve W. Berman, managing partner and co-founder of Hagens Berman. “Our clients are the backbone of the NCAA’s multi-billion dollar business and can finally be fairly compensated for their extraordinary athletic talents.”

The association, which generates $600 million in annual revenue, has increasingly become a target of both private plaintiffs and federal authorities concerned about NCAA restrictions on NIL and the freedom of students to transfer between schools.

The U.S. Department of Justice and several states have also sued the NCAA over a rule that prevents some student-athletes from competing when transferring between Division I schools.

The case is In Re College Athlete NIL Litigation, N.D. Cal., No. 4:20-cv-03919.