House Settlement Approved

[FloridaCuse]

 

[FloridaCuse]

Interesting analysis of the House case Settlement by a sports attorney in South Florida who teaches NIL at Miami Law. He argues that the only win for athletes in the Settlement is the $2.8 billion of damages to the plaintiff class of athletes and payment of it is likely to be delayed pending appeals of the District Court's approval of the settlement. He argues that the other aspects of the settlement, such as payment of compensation to current athletes (which he argues schools could have done without the Settlement), with a ceiling but no floor, roster limits, and plaintiffs' counsel agreeing to lobby Congress with the NCAA, really aren't wins for current and future athletes..

 

[FloridaCuse]

THE FUTURE OF COLLECTIVES -- TALKS ARE UNDERWAY BETWEEN COLLEGE SPORTS LEADERS AND HOUSE CASE SETTLEMENT ATTORNEYS. Below is a link to a new article tonight by Yahoo Sports discussing the latest on this subject. Below the link are highlights from the article.

College sports leaders, House settlement attorneys in talks over whether to permit booster collective deals

A resolution between the two sides could shape the future enforcement of college athletics’ new revenue-share concept.

sports.yahoo.com

A resolution between the two sides could shape the future enforcement of college athletics’ new revenue-share concept by potentially upending the settlement agreement’s primary goal: to limit or reduce the role of school-affiliated NIL collectives — booster-backed entities that have paid millions to athletes over the last four years.

The goal of the settlement, in part, is to shift athlete pay from these booster-run collectives to schools, now permitted to directly share revenue with athletes under the capped system that began July 1. However, many schools are still operating their collectives as a route to provide third-party compensation to athletes that does not count against a program’s cap — a way to, perhaps, legally circumvent the system.

“There are ways for collectives to operate that have been contemplated,” Sankey said. “If there’s a decision that results from either negotiations with plaintiffs or a court that says differently, you have a much softer cap. That would be the description.”

For school administrators, a “softer cap” potentially means an unchanged environment from the unruly spending of the last four years — something that many within the industry describe as the “Wild West” while others describe it as a free market working to recruit and retain talent.

Some schools have shuttered their collectives in an effort to fall in line with the new era of school compensation. But not everyone has made such a move. At many places, schools continue to operate their collective, some out of fear that others will do the same and some that believe the settlement will fail under the weight of legal challenges.

Ultimately, the schools hold authority to control their own affiliated collectives.

“For how long have people been begging for guardrails?” Sankey asked. “Well, now we have guardrails. Those broadly across the country that claim they wanted guardrails need to operate within the guardrails. If you allow what’s happened to continue to escalate, there would be a very small number of programs that would be competitive with each other and we’d not have a national sport or a national championship.”

 

[FloridaCuse]

Possible elements in a new Executive Order on NIL.

Pete Thamel describes 'surprising' element of President Donald Trump reviving executive order on college sports

ESPN's Pete Thamel described the most surprising element of Donald Trump's potential executive order surrounding college sports.

www.on3.com

 

[FloridaCuse]

Dan Wolken of USAToday: Did the power conferences get duped by signing off on the House Settlement, or did they build it to fail intentionally?

NCAA settlement for college sports already facing challenges. Was this the plan all along?

The settlement restructuring college athletics is already dealing with issues. Did the NCAA and power conferences get duped or build it to fail?

www.usatoday.com

Final Paragraph:

"Given what has transpired over the last week, doubts about the settlement are more than legitimate. To go through this entire process and still not be able to answer definitively whether collectives can operate as they did before is perhaps the dumbest in a long line of dumb legal situations that college sports has found itself in over the last decade. The only question is whether they got there by malice or incompetence."

 

[FloridaCuse]

Possible Presidential Executive Order would be to "preserve" college athletics from "unprecedented threat" and destruction. Key points would be to 1) provide antitrust protection, 2) prevent "unqualified agents" from representing athletes, 3) support uniformity in NILs, and 4) possibly promote that athletes are not employees. House case plaintiffs' lawyers: athletes do not need the President's help. Extensive article by Yahoo Sports discussing the possible E.O. and related issues, including possible legislation and the current dispute between the CSC and the plaintiffs' lawyers: "The settlement’s primary goal — to shift athlete pay from NIL booster collectives to the schools — is at risk of crumbling as House plaintiff attorneys contend that college leaders are violating terms of the settlement by denying certain collective contracts."

President Trump working on executive order intending to 'preserve' college sports from 'threat'

In a draft, Donald Trump directs his cabinet to create policy for antitrust protection, state preemption and employment.

sports.yahoo.com

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Every Division I School’s Revenue-Sharing Decision for 2025-26

Check out a full list of the Division I schools that opted out of revenue sharing for 2025-26, as well as the Division III schools that opted in.

www.sportico.com

 

[FloridaCuse]

 

[FloridaCuse]

 

[FloridaCuse]

 

[FloridaCuse]

 

[FloridaCuse]

 

[FloridaCuse]

New collective-bargaining bill looms as historic day arrives

While the NCAA-friendly SCORE Act is expected to be considered by House committees Wednesday, another bill is being introduced to affirm college athletes' rights to unionize and collectively bargain with their universities.

sports.yahoo.com

 

[FloridaCuse]

 

[FloridaCuse]

 

[djcon57]

So the players sell their autograph. Done.

 

[FloridaCuse]