Damages to college athletes range from a few dollars to more than a million under settlement

Thousands of former college athletes will be eligible for payouts ranging from a few dollars to more than a million under the $2.78 billion antitrust settlement agreed to by the NCAA and five power conferences, a deal that also paves the way for schools directly compensate athletes while trying to regulate booster payments.

Details of the sweeping plan were laid out Friday in federal court for the Northern District of California, just over two months later. the framework of an 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 that their compelling stories and dynamic performances have generated for their schools, conferences and the NCAA,” the document states. “This is nothing short of a seismic shift in college sports after more than four years of hard-fought victories in this case.”

The full term sheet includes guidelines on roster limits for individual sports that will override scholarship limits; how new financial payments will be monitored and applied to ensure compliance by schools; how third-party payments to athletes will be regulated; and how almost $3 billion in compensation will be distributed over the next 10 years.

These payments vary drastically and are determined by the sport played, when, for how long, and in which conference the athlete competed. While Division I athletes from all sports are eligible to receive compensation, the majority of damages are expected to go to football and basketball. power conference players because these leagues and teams generate the majority of revenue from billion-dollar media rights contracts.

The settlement covers three antitrust cases – including the class action lawsuit known as House vs. NCAA – which challenged NCAA compensation rules dating back to 2016. The plaintiffs alleged that NCAA rules denied thousands of athletes the opportunity to earn millions of dollars through the use of their names, images and likenesses.

The NCAA lifted its ban on athletes earning money through endorsement and sponsorship deals in 2021.

The agreement does not resolve the question of whether college athletes should be considered employees, but it includes language that suggests the agreement would be subject to change if “a change in law or circumstances permits collective bargaining.”

The NCAA and college sports leaders continue to plead for help from Congress in the form of a federal law that would supersede state laws and allow the association and conferences to govern themselves without fear of future antitrust litigation.

“This agreement is an important step forward for student-athletes and college sports, but it does not address all challenges,” said 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 fails to act, the progress made through the settlement could be significantly mitigated by state laws and continued litigation.”

While it still seems unlikely that that aid will arrive soon — especially with the presidential election months away — college sports leaders hope the agreement can provide some certainty to schools and ultimately stem the constant legal attacks on their antiquated model of amateurism.

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

The NCAA and conferences will be allowed to make rules that prevent schools from circumventing the limit.

This number derives from the 22% of average revenue generated through media rights contracts, tickets and other sources by power conference schools. The settlement will create an auditing system that will allow plaintiffs to monitor athletic revenues, which are expected to increase in the coming years as new media rights agreements take effect for conferences and the College Football Playoff.

Athletes are expected to earn between $1.5 billion and $2 billion annually.

All athletes will be eligible to receive the new financial benefits, but each school will be able to determine how it wants to split the money between sports. How exactly Title IX gender equality rules apply is still unclear and will require federal clarification. How schools comply with Title IX will be the responsibility of each institution.

Replacing scholarship limits with lineup caps could mean even more scholarship opportunities for Division I athletes.

Most notably, major college football teams will now be able to have 105 scholarship players instead of the current 85, although schools will no longer be required to give full scholarships to all football players.

Partial scholarships have been used in some sports for years, but will now be allowed in all.

The roster limits for baseball (34), softball (25) and volleyball (18) will also allow for a significant jump in the number of scholarships schools can offer in those sports, although schools will not be required to meet the limit.

NCAA rules have been adjusted to allow schools to become more involved in providing NIL opportunities to college athletes, but will still be able to make agreements with third parties.

However, athletes will be required to report third-party trades in excess of $600 to an external clearinghouse.

The NCAA is also creating a public database that it hopes will allow athletes to assess fair market value.

Reinforcement-funded NIL collectives have become a common form of athlete compensation, but now those agreements will be subject to review through an arbitration process to determine whether they are for a “valid business purpose,” according to the agreement.

Violations can lead to eligibility penalties for athletes and sanctions for schools.

Plaintiffs in the Chamber case are responsible for paying damages. Included in Friday’s document was a chart detailing the categories of eligible athletes, along with four different types of payments they could receive.

According to the plaintiffs, approximately 19,000 Power Conference football and men’s basketball players will be in line to receive an average of $91,000, with payments ranging from $15,000 to $280,000 just for what is referred to as the name, image and likeness of the broadcast.

Some of these same athletes could also be in line for tens of thousands of dollars more related to missed opportunities to earn NIL money while in college and what is considered by plaintiffs to be pay to play. Plaintiffs’ lawyers say some athletes will be eligible to receive more than $1 million.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs say they will file a request for preliminary approval and — if granted — a public website will be launched in about two months where former college athletes can determine how much they are entitled to receive.

Still, the agreement is months away from final approval. There will be an opportunity for athletes who are members of the plaintiff class to oppose the settlement and ask to be excluded. One school, Houston Christian, has already objected – although the judge denied his request for intervention.

“We are moving in the right direction, giving college athletes what they EARN & I DESERVE it, which is expected,” said Sedona Prince, a college basketball player who now works at TCU and one of the plaintiffs in the House case. “We still have a long way to go, and I pray that athletes ask more questions and demand more answers from leaders at their schools, conferences and the NCAA.”

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

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