It was only three years ago that the NCAA was appealing to the Supreme Court in a last-ditch attempt to keep from having to pay college athletes, especially football and basketball players, an annual cash supplement on top of their scholarships. The amount they didn’t want to pay was $5,980. Today that figure is laughable, especially in light of a new agreement that was reached this week which finally acknowledges that bigtime college sports isn’t remotely about amateurism, not that it ever was anyway. The NCAA and the Power 5 conferences voted this week on a 10-year deal that will reportedly funnel to college athletes more than $15 billion dollars over its duration.
This move is to settle three antitrust cases (House, Hubbard and Carter). It approves terms that feature nearly $2.8 billion in back damages; a future athlete revenue-sharing model that will cost major conferences a cumulative $1 billion-plus annually; and other potential changes to the association’s governance, enforcement and scholarship structure.
“This would be the biggest change in the history of college sports. Period,” Gabe Feldman, a sports law professor at Tulane and leading voice in NCAA litigation matters, told Yahoo sports. “There have been significant changes and incremental changes. The NIL era has opened a lot of doors, but to have athletes share revenue with the schools would be not only monumental but would be contrary to what the NCAA has espoused for a century.” All five power conference presidential boards — the Big Ten, SEC, Pac-12, Big 12 and ACC — voted in favor of the settlement this week. The Pac-12, despite its near dissolution, voted as originally structured. The league provided the final vote Thursday evening on a landmark day. However, a finalization of the settlement may not happen for many months. The agreement will need approval from a judge and is available for objections from individual plaintiffs — at least a five-month haul,
However, within 14 months, at the start of the 2025 fall semester, the industry’s new model is expected to be implemented permitting schools — but not requiring them — to share revenue with athletes up to a certain quasi-salary cap.
The revenue-sharing deals with athletes will be classified as NIL agreements, with schools providing funds for the use and broadcast of a players’ name, image and likeness — a concept at the heart of the House case. Other non-NIL forms of payments are an option.
Though plenty of questions linger around this new system, institutions will be permitted to share with athletes as much as $22 million per year. That figure, still very much in flux, was derived from 22% of an average of power conference revenues. The cap includes exceptions as a combined $5 million in Alston-related money and additional scholarships can be counted toward the total.
Notice one thing missing from the agreement. Not a word in there about the fate of HBCUs, non-power 5 schools or small colleges. The inference is obvious: they are on their own in this new, bigger money frontier. This is all about maximizing opportunities for the big schools and their athletes.
It’s way past time for the rest of college sports to organize, or they will find themselves even further behind the eight-ball than they already are. Both the SEC and Big 10 are talking about elimination of the few games they now play against smaller schools, games that often can mean the difference between breaking even or losing money for HBCUs and smaller conference athletic programs.
There’s been suggestions before about some kind of alliance between the HBCUs and the non-power conferences. It’s probably time that this was once again explored, because it is evident that the NCAA is in self-preservation mode, and to them that means doing whatever the Power 5 schools want in order to keep them in the fold.
Some folks are also suggesting congressional action, but given the current stage of the nation’s legislative wing, any action from them won’t be happening anytime soon. In the meantime, the world of college sports, at least for the big schools, is finally acknowledging reality. Eventually the time will come when these players are simply classified as employees of the college and paid salaries. If they also choose to pursue an education, they can, but no one will act as though that’s their primary goal.
As that day approaches, every other institution, HBCUs, Ivy and Patriot Leagues, the service academies, and the small colleges, better start taking measures to preserve their athletic programs because the NCAA certainly isn’t concerned about their futures.
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