DoorAssociated press
Published: May. 23, 2024 at 9:54 PM EDT|Updated: 8 hours ago
(AP) - NCAA management and the Southeastern Conference have agreeda $2.8 billion settlementof antitrust claims, bringing college athletics closer to some of the most dramatic changes in its history.
The SEC became the latest league to agree to the proposal when its presidents and chancellors voted unanimously Thursday, a person with direct knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the conference does not make its internal discussions public.
With four of the five power conferences on board, only Pac-12 approval was needed to move forward with the proposed solution. A decision from the president's administration is expected later Thursday.
The proposal could resolve three major antitrust lawsuits against the NCAA that carry the threat of billions in damages, a blow that would cripple the organization founded in 1906, which oversees about 500,000 athletes in dozens of sports.
If approved by a judge, it would further upend the NCAA's longstanding amateur sports model by allowing revenue sharing between schools and their athletes, who were allowed to earn endorsem*nts less than three years ago.
The NCAA completed its approval process late Wednesday, with the 15-member board voting unanimously to accept the plan — with one member abstaining — according to two people with direct knowledge of the vote, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the NCAA has not made its internal process public.
Attorneys for the plaintiffsHouse vs. NCAAhad set a deadline for agreeing a settlement on Thursday.The Great 12th and Atlantic Coast Conferencealready opted out on Tuesday, and on Wednesday the Big Ten presidents joined them, a person with direct knowledge of the decision told the AP.
Under the proposed settlement, the NCAA will pay $2.77 billion over 10 years to former and current college athletes who, under now-defunct rules, were denied the opportunity to make money from 2016 endorsem*nt and sponsorship deals. NCAA and conferences would also agree to set up a revenue-sharing system in which schools would be allowed to spend about $21 million on their athletes each year, but that would not be mandatory. That number could grow over time as sales increase.
As the leagues and the NCAA marched toward the settlement, a fourth antitrust lawsuit poses a potential complication.
U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney in Colorado ruled Thursday that Fontenot vs. The NCAA will remain in its court rather than being moved to California and combined with any of the other antitrust cases that could be included in the settlement.
Counsel for the plaintiffs in Fontenot said they won't know whether their claims will be covered by the settlement until they have all the details of the proposal.
“Somehow they are connected to us, otherwise I just don't see how a settlement will ultimately be reached,” George Zelcs, one of the plaintiffs' attorneys, told the AP. “They have to take us away, or they'll get an order that will involve us. We also have arguments against that.”
The NCAA and five conferences named in the lawsuit House vs. NCAA at the center of settlement negotiations asked Sweeney to combine the Fontenot case with Carter vs. NCAA, which is listened to in the Northern District of California.
House and Hubbard v. NCAA have already been consolidated in the Northern District of California and are being overseen by U.S. Judge Claudia Wilken, who has ruled in several high-profile antitrust cases against the NCAA in recent years. Carter is supervised by U.S. Judge Richard Seeborg. Fontenot would be added to Seeborg's files.
Former Colorado football player Alex Fontenot filed his lawsuit last November, claiming that NCAA rules illegally prevented college athletes from earning their fair share of the millions of dollars schools bring in. Garrett Broshuis, Zelcs' colleague at law firm Korein Tillery, said the Fontenot case should not be combined with the other three.
“House was focused on name, image and equity issues, which actually make up a small portion of the total revenue brought in by the NCAA and the conferences and their members,” Broshuis told the AP. “Our case focuses instead on what would be the true open market value of the services provided by these athletes.”
Broshuis said the Carter case focuses only on basketball and football players from the Power Five conferences — the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC.
“While the class proposed by Fontenot is broader than that. Revenue is revenue regardless of the sport,” he said.
Steve Berman, one of the lead attorneys in the House of Representatives, said in a statement to the AP that the issues in Fontenot completely overlap with the other cases, and that the settlement — if approved — “will clear all of their claims.”
"And as far as their claim is concerned, they are waiting to see if they want to be part of it. They have already filed objections in court in Colorado without even seeing the agreement, a completely irresponsible thing to do," Berman said. . “Even more so if they haven't contributed to the momentum that allowed us to achieve this, unlike Johnny who came in recently.”
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
