• Loading stock data...
Friday, August 29, 2025
Front Office Sports Honors winners are here! View the 2025 winners

NCAA, Power Conferences Approve Settlement to Allow for Revenue Sharing

  • On Thursday, the Power 5 conferences and the NCAA announced they had authorized a settlement in House v. NCAA.
  • The agreement, though not final, would mark the first time in NCAA history that schools would share revenue with players.
Michigan defensive back Mike Sainristil celebrates a play against Washington during the second half of the national championship game at NRG Stadium in Houston on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024.
Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

The NCAA is one step closer to agreeing to a concept it has eschewed for a century: allowing schools to pay players. 

On Thursday, the Power 5 conferences and the NCAA announced they had all separately authorized a settlement in House v. NCAA. Plaintiff lawyers Jeffrey Kessler and Steve Berman announced in a separate statement that they had also agreed to the terms.

The lawsuit argues that players from the pre–name, image, and likeness era deserve back pay, and the definition of NIL should expand to include broadcast revenue. The NCAA and power conferences will split $2.75 billion in damages paid to thousands of Division I athletes who played between 2016 and ’21, a source confirmed to Front Office Sports. Each power conference school will start revenue-sharing around $20 million per year with players (or 22% of annual athletic department revenue)—a framework that could begin as early as ’25. Plaintiff lawyers estimated that athletes could earn around $20 billion in total over ten years.

“This settlement is also a road map for college sports leaders and Congress to ensure this uniquely American institution can continue to provide unmatched opportunity for millions of students,” the five commissioners and NCAA president Charlie Baker said in a joint statement.

The announcement caps off a historic week in college sports that dealt yet another major blow to the NCAA’s business model of amateurism. Beginning with the Big 12, each conference voted individually (including the former makeup of the Pac-12) between Tuesday and Thursday. Multiple NCAA committees also approved the settlement—though many of its D-I members were against it, given that they’ll face significant and, in their view, disproportionately high, cuts  to their annual revenue distribution from the governing body despite not being parties to the lawsuit. 

The settlement still faces plenty of hurdles, however. Lawyers will likely spend months hammering out additional details, including enforcement mechanisms, agreements for new scholarship limits, and the amount of money each qualified athlete receives, according to multiple reports. Then, Judge Claudia Wilken, who has presided over multiple NCAA antitrust cases including O’Bannon and Alston, must approve the settlement—but only after athletes get a chance to object.

If the agreement goes through, the NCAA will settle not only the House case but also two other similar antitrust lawsuits, Hubbard v. NCAA and Carter v. NCAA. But a third case, Fontenot v. NCAA, will not be consolidated into the settlement as the NCAA had hoped, a judge ruled on Thursday. That case is much broader than House, as it argues that all of the NCAA’s compensation restrictions are illegal.

But the settlement would not bring an end to the NCAA’s legal woes. It has no bearing on the most important question for the NCAA’s future: whether athletes should be classified as employees. The NCAA remains embroiled in three cases addressing this question: two regarding USC athletes and Dartmouth athletes, respectively, are winding through the bureaucracy of the National Labor Relations Board; the federal case Johnson v. NCAA, which concerns all D-I athletes, is in a holding pattern in the 3rd Circuit.  

The NCAA does, however, plan to use the House settlement to indirectly put these lawsuits to bed (as it even indicated in its statement on Thursday). The governing body will take the settlement to Congress as a sign of good faith showing it has made as many reforms to its business model as possible. It will then ask Congress to pass a law preventing the NCAA from having to make any other further changes. The strategy is part of a sophisticated, yearslong lobbying campaign to end the athletes’ rights era.

For now, however, athletes can expect to start receiving paychecks that many advocates and lawyers believe are long overdue. “We have been marching down this long legal road seeking economic justice in college sports for more than a decade,” Kessler said. “The time to bring a fair compensation system to college athletes has finally arrived.”

Linkedin
Whatsapp
Copy Link
Link Copied
Link Copied

What to Read

Ohio State mascot Brutus interacts with Lee Corso on the set of ESPN College GameDay prior to the College Football Playoff first round game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and Tennessee Volunteers in Columbus on Dec. 21, 2024.

End of an Era: Lee Corso Makes Final ‘College GameDay’ Appearance

After 430 iconic headgear picks, the iconic coach bids farewell.

Fox, YouTube TV Reach Deal, Avoiding CFB Blackout

Saturday’s Texas-Ohio State college football game will be fully distributed

Micah Parsons Traded to Packers, Set to Sign Record 4-Year, $188M Deal

The Cowboys reportedly offered Parsons $40.5 million per year in March.

As CFB Programs Add Corporate Field Logos, Are Jersey Patches Next?

Texas is adding a sponsor’s logo to its football field this season.

Featured Today

‘You’re Going to Get Beat Up’: The Liberty’s All-Male Practice Squad

A select group suits up weekly to take on the defending champs.
August 24, 2025

The Honey Deuce Effect: How Tennis Perfected the Signature Cocktail

Sold every 1.5 seconds, they total more than $12 million in sales.
Dec 21, 2024; Austin, Texas, USA; Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning (16) warms up as the Texas Longhorns prepare to play the Clemson Tigers in the first round of the College Football Playoffs at Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium.
August 23, 2025

Schools Are Hesitant to Allow PE Into Their Athletic Departments

Regardless of budget, schools don’t believe the risk is worth the reward.
Oct 2, 2024; Rosemont, IL, USA; Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti speaks with the media during the 2024 Big Ten Women’s Basketball media day at Donald E. Stephens Convention Center.
August 22, 2025

‘Not Ready to Jump In’: Power 4 Commissioners Aren’t Sold on PE

Top leaders in college sports have yet to see a satisfactory proposal.
Apr 19, 2025; Boulder, CO, USA; Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders during the spring game at Folsom Field.

Coach Prime Enters Year 3 at Colorado With New Challenges

The Buffaloes have sold out their season tickets yet again.
August 27, 2025

College Football Players Projected to Earn $1.9B This Year, Nearly Double 2024

The spike comes in the first season of revenue-sharing.
August 27, 2025

Fox, YouTube TV Avoid Blackout With Short-Term Deal

The upcoming Texas–Ohio State clash will remain available to subscribers.
Sponsored

Gareth Bale on MLS vs EPL, Retirement & Buying Cardiff City

Gareth Bale shares his post-soccer business playbook.
Oregon State Beavers quarterback Gevani McCoy (4) scrambles out of the pocket during an NCAA football game against UNLV at Reser Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, in Corvallis, Ore.
August 27, 2025

Pac-12 Strikes New Football, Basketball Deal With The CW

The latest step in its resurrection after being picked apart in 2023.
Oct 17, 2015; Evanston, IL, USA; A general view of the Northwestern Wildcats logo at midfield before the game against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Ryan Field.
August 25, 2025

Northwestern AD Singles Out Volleyball As Sport to Invest In

Northwestern athletic director Mark Jackson spoke to Front Office Sports.
Dec 21, 2024; Austin, Texas, USA; Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning (16) is tackled by Clemson Tigers defensive tackle Payton Page (55) during the second half of the CFP National playoff first round at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium
August 25, 2025

As College Football Season Kicks Off, NIL Deal Approval Process Still Lags

Many deals are stuck in “purgatory,” one power conference collective operator says.
August 25, 2025

$12.5M Freshman Bryce Underwood Named Michigan’s Starting QB

The Wolverines paid big money to land the highly touted recruit.