Final Hearing In NIL Settlement Case
Tomorrow will mark a huge win for NIL supporters and one of the most important days in NCAA history. The final hearing in the ongoing House v. NCAA case is set to take place April 7th at 10:00am and will be presided over by Judge Claudia Wilken. The resolution of the massive NIL settlement case will completely change the landscape of the NCAA moving forward and will usher in a more pro-league feel to collegiate sports programs particularly in the Power 5 Conferences.
Wilken has previously ruled against the NCAA back in 2014 during the O’Bannon v. NCAA case when she determined that the NCAA violated the Sherman Antitrust Act. The NCAA at the time prohibited revenue sharing between universities and student athletes, resulting in many athletes feeling exploited and handcuffed by rules surrounding their financial potential.
Fast forward to April 7th, 2025, and the conclusion of three class action lawsuits: House v. NCAA, Carter v. NCAA, and Hubbard v. NCAA will not only allow student athletes to participate and benefit from revenue share but will also allow them to pursue endorsement deals and develop their own brands. Current and former Division 1 athletes dating back to 2016 will also benefit from the resolution by getting their share of the $2.576 billion settlement. Below is an excerpt from the Plaintiff’s Notice of Motion and Motion for Preliminary Settlement Approval, which outlines some of the details in how the money will be distributed.
“… the thousands of members of the Football and Men’s Basketball Class will receive an average of $91,000 for their BNIL claims and $40,000 for their athletic compensation claims, and a recovery range for their videogame NIL claims up to $4000, over a ten-year period. Those who played before and after the NCAA changed its NIL rules in July 2021 to allow for third-party payments also may receive Lost Opportunity NIL payments within a wide range depending on several factors, but up to as much as $800,000.”
“Members of the Women’s Basketball Class will also receive Lost Opportunity NIL damages depending on when they played and the NIL deals, they’ve made (up to as much as $300,000), as well as averages of $23,000 and $14,000 for their BNIL and athletic compensation claims, respectively. Members of the Additional Sports Class also will receive significant settlement recoveries, with ranges depending on the sport and years played, number of claimants, and their NIL deals. For example, members of this Class could receive Lost Opportunity NIL payments up to approximately $1.8 million.”
NIL and How Programs Will Navigate the New Landscape
By introducing a new pay-for-play structure and a ton of money into the Power 5 Conferences, players in those conferences will now essentially have a price tag associated with them in terms of their NIL value. That value will be determined by the same model that is used in the professional leagues for cap management, as well as the tracking and enforcement of the rules surrounding payments from programs to players. LBi Software has finished testing of this new program and will assist universities in rolling out the software.
In addition to using similar program that professional leagues use to track payments and cap management, the new committee that will govern over NIL management is working with Deliotte to create a similar system to track all Division 1 third party NIL deals of $600 or more. Under the new proposed settlement, deals valued at more than $600 dollars must be reported to the enforcement committee so that they may determine if the deal are reasonable and made with a true business intent.
Schools in the Power 5 Conferences will each receive roughly $20 million to start, with a small incremental increase each year for the next few years. That money will stand as a salary cap that can be used to essentially purchase the NIL rights of players to recruit them. All of the transactions and dealings will be overseen by a governing committee that will handle the new transition and take the place of the NCAA. The enforcement committee will be made up of two representatives from each of the Power 5 Conferences.
The full list of representatives is as follows:
- Trev Alberts, Texas A&M.
- Scott Barnes, Oregon State.
- Mitch Barnhart, Kentucky.
- J Batt, Georgia Tech.
- Ross Bjork, Ohio State.
- Pat Chun, Washington.
- John Cunningham, Cincinnati.
- Anne McCoy, Washington State.
- Graham Neff, Clemson.
- Desireé Reed-Francois, Arizona.
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