Payments vary widely under NCAA settlement | News, Sports, Jobs

Thousands of former college athletes will be eligible for payments ranging from a few dollars to more than a million under a $2.78 billion antitrust settlement reached by the NCAA and five major conferences. The agreement also clears the way for schools to pay athletes directly while also trying to regulate payments from sponsors.

Details of the sweeping plan were filed Friday in federal court in the Northern District of California, a little more than two months after the framework for the agreement was announced. The deal still needs to be approved by a judge.

“College athletes will finally be able to share in the billions of dollars their compelling stories and dynamic performances have generated for their schools, conferences and the NCAA,” the filing reads. “This is nothing short of a seismic shift in college sports after more than four years of hard-fought victories in this matter.”

The full term sheet includes guidelines for sport-specific roster limits that will replace scholarship limits; how the new financial payments will be monitored and enforced to ensure compliance by schools; how third-party payments to athletes will be regulated; and how nearly $3 billion in compensation will be distributed over the next 10 years.

These payouts will vary dramatically, depending on the sport played, when, for how long, and what conference the athlete competed in. While Division I athletes in all sports will be eligible for compensation, the bulk of the compensation will likely go to football and basketball players from the powerhouse conferences, since those leagues and teams generate the majority of their revenue from billion-dollar media deals.

The agreement includes three antitrust cases — including the class action known as House vs. the NCAA — that challenged NCAA compensation rules in place since 2016. The plaintiffs argued that the NCAA rules deprived thousands of athletes of the opportunity to earn millions of dollars from the use of their names, images and likenesses.

In 2021, the NCAA lifted the ban on athletes earning money through sponsorships and deals with advertisers.

The agreement does not rule on whether student athletes should be considered employees, but it does include language suggesting the agreement could be changed if “a change in law or circumstances makes collective bargaining possible.”

The NCAA and college sports leaders continue to ask Congress for help in passing federal legislation that would supersede state laws and allow associations and conferences to govern themselves without fear of future antitrust litigation.

“This settlement is an important step forward for student-athletes and college sports, but it does not resolve all issues,” the commissioners of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, Southeastern Conference and NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a joint statement. “The need for federal legislation to provide solutions remains. If Congress does not act, the progress made through the settlement could be significantly limited by state laws and ongoing litigation.”

While such relief is still unlikely in the near future — especially with the presidential election just months away — college sports leaders hope the settlement will provide certainty for schools and finally put an end to the relentless legal attacks on an outdated model of amateurism.

The NCAA and conferences have agreed to change their rules to allow a groundbreaking compensation system that will allow schools to share up to $21 million in athletic revenue with their athletes annually, starting in 2025.

Breaking news and more in your inbox