Judge delays decision on case requiring payments for NCAA players

Monday, Judge Claudia Wilkins heard objections to an antitrust settlement between student-athletes and the NCAA that would change the way college sports operates

If the settlement is approved by the judge in the next couple weeks, schools will start paying athletes directly for the first time

Amateur college sports as we know it today will be over. The House vs. NCAA settlement sets up a pool of money for each school, which initially will start at $22.5 million per year

That'll be shared with student-athletes. The money comes from sources like media rights, ticket sales, concessions, apparel, and sponsorships

That $22.5 million will increase 4% a year over the next decade

and be distributed to athletes by universities as they see fit. The money is in addition to scholarships, outside NIL payments, and other current benefits

But it comes with a catch. Each sport will have roster limits which coaches are generally not in favor of We got to remove a lot of kids from the program and it sucks I be honest with you There a lot of kids that want to be here want to stay here that we can have in the program

And kids that are paying their way, kids that have put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears in this place

kids that are invested academically, now those kids have got to make a choice. Other issues like the poaching of athletes through the transfer portal are not addressed in the settlement

That will likely continue during this new pay-for-play era. The biggest schools will still use outside collectives to sweeten the payments with additional name, image, and likeness deals

Nebraska coach Matt Rule recently described a common scenario. What I don't want is guys playing at four colleges in four years

Because, you know, hey, I'm the highest bidder. Now I'm the highest bidder. The one thing in football is the desperate team sets the market And so if a desperate team comes in and they trying to steal you away from me and hey I give you more but it not a good situation Like there has to be some guardrails Then there are the many legal objections to the settlement several of which were heard by the judge Monday like gender equity

Since the money is coming from schools, some say it should be subject to Title IX laws equally distributed among men and women's sports

As it stands, football will get the majority of the money now. Objectors also asked the judge why there should be a $22.5 million limit on the compensation

And the issue of a cap on roster sizes was a big talking point. Some believe the cap is unfair to students who want to pay their own way, such as walk-ons

Commissioner Greg Sankey, who runs the SEC, the most powerful conference in college sports

would like Congress to pass legislation to help set some standards and hopes that all the schools will come together to work it out

regardless of this court decision. Not going state by state to have different laws to figure out the next one up but we going to come together and say here a competitive structure We going to do it with the best legal counsel

Our focus needs to be on implementation of a settlement. There's going to be plenty of criticism

We need to deal with the criticism where it's appropriate, adjust where we need to

but continue to adapt to a modern set of expectations. Judge Wilkin also reviewed concerns about payments to former athletes dating back to 2016 that were not paid while in school

The settlement has set aside $2.8 billion to be distributed during a 10-year window to those who file a claim

So far, more than 118,000 former athletes have filed. The judge could rule on the settlement in the next couple of weeks

If she approves it, the rules could go into effect July 1, 2025, changing the college sports landscape

Lawyers will also begin preparing for the slew of lawsuits that will no doubt follow

For Straight Arrow News, I'm Chris Francis