Who Gets Paid and How in Landmark NCAA Antitrust Agreement

Highlights of the 100-page, $2.78 billion settlement filed Friday in federal court involving the NCAA, the five wealthiest college sports conferences and plaintiffs representing hundreds of thousands of former and current student-athletes.

Who gets paid?

The class action lawsuit covers more than 400,000 former and current college athletes from all sports, starting in 2026. Payments will be determined based on the sport they played, the conference they attended, when and for how long.

The range of damages varies widely, with football and basketball players who competed in the Power Five conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC) expected to receive the largest amounts. Many will be eligible to recover more than $100,000. Plaintiffs’ attorneys say it’s estimated that at least one athlete will be entitled to $1.8 million.

Next up are college basketball players, whose estimated salaries will range from around $15,000 to potentially several hundred thousand dollars.

Football and basketball players from top conferences and schools outside the Power Five could receive an average of several thousand dollars each; Power Five baseball players are expected to be eligible to receive an average of about $400.

Athletes in other sports may qualify for less than $100.

Revenue sharing

The settlement includes an agreement by the major conferences and the NCAA that will allow schools to distribute approximately $21 million in athletic revenue to athletes each year, starting in the fall of 2025.

That amount is expected to grow as athletic revenues grow at Power Conference schools. It will be up to the schools to decide how they want to distribute that money to their athletes and how they will address Title IX gender equity requirements.

The settlement also allows the NCAA and conferences to implement rules against schools that circumvent the limit and regulate how sponsors pay athletes for name, image and likeness contracts.

Composition limits

Instead of scholarship limits, college teams will have roster limits set by sport. The change could allow schools to award dozens more athletic scholarships, although some that were once required as full scholarships may now be partial.

Judge approval

A judge must still approve the settlement, and individuals and schools can file objections and challenges. There are potential hurdles, but even if they can be avoided, final approval likely won’t come until 2025.

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Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP