Former college athletes can now file claims for part of the $2.8 billion backpay the NCAA is slated to pay in damages as part of the House v. NCAA settlement agreement.
As Judge Claudia Wilken preliminarily approved the settlement earlier this month, Division I athletes who competed in the NCAA from June 15, 2016 – Sept. 15, 2024, are eligible to apply for a claim through collegeathletecompensation.com. The claim period ends Jan. 31, 2025.
If the final settlement is approved, the face of college athletics will change in the United States. Revenue sharing with NCAA athletes will go into effect July 1, 2025. There will also be a shift from scholarship limits to roster caps as the league must find enough money to fund the $2.8 billion in back pay. Many of those changes affect the current and future athletes of the NCAA, but the back pay is an opportunity for former college athletes to earn compensation for missing NIL opportunities and revenue sharing.
The majority of the settlement is expected to go to Power 5 football and men’s basketball players. These players are expected to receive an average of $135,000, per the long-form settlement agreement.
The money for NIL damages is being allocated into three categories—broadcast NIL, video game NIL, and lost NIL opportunities. According to On3’s Pete Nakos, previously submitted documents reveal that “95% of the additional compensation net settlement fund will be allocated to the Power Five football and men’s basketball portion with a distributed ratio of 75/15/5 percent.”
The first back-pay installment is due May 15, 2025, or within 45 days of the settlement being finalized. While the final approval date is scheduled, there is the potential for legal appeals to be submitted in the interim.
How much money do power 5 schools bring in every year from football and basketball? Sounds like the 2.8 b is not as big a deal as everyone thinks. This thing started for a pretty noble reason. Athletes getting paid for NIL..then it just ballooned. Lots of doom and gloom predictions..I just don’t think this is gonna turn out bad..and I was involved in a class action suit,, I got $ 4 bucks..kept the check..framed it!
There are already consequences for swimming & diving programs via the roster limits. The transfer portal this off-season is going to be a blood bath, and lots of swimmers committed in the class of 2025 and 2026 are going to learn that their roster spots are gone come signing day.
What is the roster limit? And can the colleges offset by intramural leagues?
Braden and others…there is a lot of discussion re this court decision, and I admit that I had begun to fall in line with one perceived outcome, that college swimming was in for its ultimate demise. But if there are many top 15-20 D1 programs presently maintaining rosters of 25-35+, those swimmers or roster spots that are soon to be eliminated will turn a fairly significant number of fairly fast swimmers loose, to seek a roster spot on a team that ranks 21 on down, or possibly D2, D3, or NAIA. Major initial chaos for sure, and all hypothetical/yet to be determined but I’m struggling with my potential conclusion that this may not be such a bad thing after the… Read more »
Can colleges offset what they have to pay against scholarships they provided?
Man, this whole thing is bogus.
I competed 2010-2014, but I guess pre 2015 doesn’t exist? Just forgive my student loans ffs. How schools can magically afford full rides for the whole roster, but having no real retroactive plan to take care of former athletes is ridiculous.
Sorry pal (I’m in same boat as you as a pre-2016 NCAA swimmer) — the whole point of this settlement is to to pay athletes “back pay” — i.e., pay they could have gotten back in 2016 and were denied. Swimmers were never going to get any pay for the simple reason that NCAA swimming does not generate any profit for any school.
I get it, it’s just disingenuous to the athlete’s that competed, and made their schools money, for 100 years before this case.
how about covering medical costs for athletic related injuries, therapy costs for all the shitty coaches (McKeever, Coley, Kipp, etc…), but nah… schools just don’t want to pay because they don’t have money… for anything besides football and basketball.
We had a donor come forward and offer to cover expenses, for ten plus years, of our now cut program, but Barta said no. The bigger issue is: why hasn’t their been any foresight in saving Oly sports?
Just never donate to the school for anything forever
Oh, I told them to never call me… unless they were ready to pay for surgery on my torn labrum’s and fractured leg
Congrats on your $4 everyone!
I don’t like this whole thing, but the article fails to mention how much the attorneys will get. I’m sure it’ll be A LOT more than what the athletes get…except of course for Mr House.
About 40%
Criminal
House lawyers seek over $500 Million in fees as their share of the settlement – see
https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/legal-fee-tracker-lawyers-play-long-game-27-billion-ncaa-settlement-2024-08-15/
What this suit was really about.
So, which lawsuit do we pick
Some of the lawsuits have triggers in them that they stay, dismiss, or proceed based on the finalized House settlement.
But there’s definitely going to be more lawsuits.
I felt lucky to be able to represent my university and continue the sport through college. It’s sad that many athletes will not get this chance.
They only won’t get that chance if we let ’em kill the current system.
Which, I mean is sorta what we do but we don’t have to.