Is the NCAA litigation settlement that was announced last week the beginning or end of college sports’ challenges?
The agreement to settle three major antitrust class action suits will be complete if the deal receives court approval. This settlement is based on past and current violations in the college sports system but does not cover future antitrust problems that may arise.
The settlement amount to be paid by the NCAA is $2.7 billion and includes retroactive payments to Division I athletes who played between 2016-2021 in the pre-NIL era. Hopefully, this covers some of you younger former players. The landmark settlement also going forward will allow schools to directly pay their student-athletes for the first time.
Josh Whitman has a unique background and current position to comment on the future of collegiate sports. He is an NFL alum who signed with the Bills in 2001 and played with the Chargers. He has a law degree and has been a college athletic director for the last 15 years, including at the University of Illinois since 2016. He currently is doubling up as Division I Council Chairman.
“I think we have a chance right now in college athletics,” Whitman told The Athletic last week, “to really reshape the model in the most meaningful way in our lifetimes and maybe the most meaningful way that has ever been. We can build this new model in a way that allows us to put more money directly into the pockets of our student-athletes, which I think is overdue, and do it in a way that does protect competitive fairness and allows for schools to have predictability and sustainability going forward.”
The $2.7 billion settlement reportedly calls for the NCAA and its schools to pay $1.1 billion upfront and $1.6 billion over the next decade. The revenue will start to flow in 2025 but an open question is exactly how the distribution will be processed to athletes in revenue-producing vs. non-revenue producing sports. Title IX ramifications also may affect the distribution. Schools will need to raise revenue possibly by raising ticket prices, reducing athletic staffs, and/or downsizing planned new facility spending.
“Nobody just has tens of millions of dollars sitting around unallocated,” says Whitman. “Every school is going to have to do some in-depth analyses and figure out what is the right approach for them and what makes sense on their campus. And, certainly, we recognize that we’re just on the front end of this entire process.”
We at NFL Alumni agree with our brother Josh Whitman that the beginning of this new era in college athletics will only take shape after many additional steps are finalized. We will keep you updated on major developments as they affect you and your high school/college-aged children and grandchildren during this process.
