NCAA athletes score big with approval of $2.8 billion antitrust settlement

(CN) — College athletes will now be able to be directly compensated by their schools, following a multibillion-dollar settlement that resolves three antitrust cases against the National Collegiate Athletic Association and some of the nation’s largest conferences.

Late Friday night, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken granted her final approval to a class of over 400,000 current and former Division I student athletes in a $2.8 billion settlement with the NCAA.

The settlement compensates past players between 2016 and 2024 for missed name, image and likeness opportunities. In the 10-year settlement, schools will now share up to $20.5 million of their revenue from broadcast rights with current players, beginning with the upcoming academic year, which starts on July 1.

“Approving the agreement reached by the NCAA, the defendant conferences, and student-athletes in the settlement opens a pathway to begin stabilizing college sports. This new framework that enables schools to provide direct financial benefits to student athletes and establishes clear and specific rules to regulate third-party NIL agreements marks a huge step forward for college sports,” NCAA president Charlie Baker said in a Friday night letter.

Until 2021, the NCAA barred players from earning money through personal branding or outside income. That changed when athletes were allowed to profit from sponsorships, endorsements and social media deals. Friday’s settlement allows them to receive money directly from their schools.

The settlement follows nearly a year of negotiations, marked by recent setbacks.

Wilken was previously concerned that the NCAA’s proposed provision for roster limits for current players could result in the loss of 10,000 or more spots in “non-revenue” sports, such as Olympic sports, by restricting the number of walk-on athletes allowed for each team.

In the final settlement, the parties compromised that the implementation of roster limits wouldn’t compromise athletic scholarships.

“Replacing scholarship limits with roster limits — a change that will enable schools to vastly increase the scholarship opportunities student-athletes receive and potentially double the number of athletics scholarships made available to women,” Baker said in his letter.

Attorney Steve Berman of firm Hagens Berman, which co-led the representation of the college athletes, said in a statement, “Major changes don’t happen overnight, and we thank the court for its careful consideration of what is a monumental shift in college sports that will bring the NCAA into the modern age.”

He also highlighted lead plaintiffs Grant House, a former Arizona State swimmer, and Sedona Prince, a former TCU basketball player, who will serve as class representatives for those receiving injunctive relief. The settlement also includes separate classes for football and men’s basketball, women’s basketball and other sports.

House and Prince filed their suit in 2020 against the NCAA and the Power Five conferences. The settlement also consolidates similar class actions brought by athletes like NFL running back Chuba Hubbard and track and field athlete Kiera McCarrell, among others.