![The NCAA and Power 5 conferences agreed to a legal settlement this week that will allow schools to pay players directly.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3445x2584+215+0/resize/1100/quality/100/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F46%2F9d%2Ff870c60d4e6abb1c844b639c4db4%2Fgettyimages-1827352044.jpg)
The NCAA and Power 5 conferences agreed to a legal settlement this week that will allow schools to pay athletes directly.
Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
Hide caption
Caption transition
Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
Big changes are coming to college athletics.
On Thursday, the NCAA and the so-called “Power Five” athletic conferences reached a landmark agreement that seeks to end a century-old tradition of amateurism in college sports by allowing athletes to receive salaries directly from the colleges for which they play.
The settlement is said to be part of a class action lawsuit. House vs. NCAAIt must be approved by a federal judge overseeing the case, and a decision could come months later.
![FILE - Wisconsin's Traevon Jackson dribbles past the NCAA logo during practice during the NCAA men's college basketball tournament in Anaheim, California, March 26, 2014.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2646x2646+674+0/resize/100/quality/100/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fca%2Fe1%2F4d38a39340c0be6c3ad4aa395ef2%2Fap24144555273857.jpg)
The proposed agreement has two parts. First, it will distribute about $2.75 billion to athletes who competed before July 2021, when the NCAA for the first time allowed athletes to make money from their name, image and likeness rights. Second, it would create a future revenue-sharing model that would allow each school to distribute approximately $20 million annually to athletes directly.
But far from closing the door on years of debate and litigation over payments to student athletes, the proposed settlement raises more questions. Which athletes will receive compensation? How much do they earn? Will women receive equal pay as men? Can schools that can't pay their athletes catch up with bigger, wealthier schools?
“These are going to be very important details that we’ll have to work out,” said Matt Mitten, a sports law professor at Marquette University. “The agreement is just the beginning.”
Here's what we know and the big unresolved issues.
What does the proposed settlement include?
Simply put, the forward-looking part of the proposed agreement is that schools in the Power 5 conferences (Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, and Southeastern Conference), all of which voted to approve the proposed agreement, are Salary can be paid.
Each school can distribute up to about $20 million to players based on a percentage of the average revenue they earn each year through power conference programs. That rate starts at 22% and can increase over time. Other schools outside the Power 5 conferences are expected to participate as well.
![College football is back, but players still aren't getting paid.](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2022/09/02/gettyimages-1357217342_sq-212e68e37a08afa3670c565dd7ff9ac82daa2abb.jpg?s=100&c=100&f=jpeg)
“This landmark settlement will bring college sports into the 21st century, ensuring that college athletes will finally receive their fair share of the billions of dollars in revenue they generate for their schools,” Steve Berman, the plaintiffs' attorney, said in a statement. “It is,” he said.
Do all college athletes get paid?
no. Football and men's basketball players who participate in large programs are most likely to receive salaries. That's because most of the revenue earned by college athletic departments has historically come from television contracts to broadcast these two sports. Women's basketball also receives some revenue, and its players can also receive payments.
“It’s up to each school to decide how to distribute that $20 million, and that’s probably going to vary a lot from school to school,” said attorney Mit Winter, who represented the conference, schools and athletes. We deal with various legal issues related to college sports.
![A new era enters college sports as the NCAA struggles to keep up](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2021/06/27/gettyimages-1309471928_sq-11f16680cd85392ce1e68fbd9357c280e3197166.jpg?s=100&c=100&f=jpeg)
Schools would also have the option to pay athletes in sports that don't typically generate revenue, such as rowing, soccer, tennis, track and field, etc., but it's unclear how institutions will proceed.
And many schools outside of major conferences may choose not to pay any players at all, which could ultimately open a competitive gap between the haves and the have-nots.
As an example, Mitten pointed to his employer, Marquette, whose men's basketball team has reached three Final Fours despite the school's lack of a football team and revenue that could more easily pay its players.
![March Madness is an NCAA gold mine. This year, players can finally earn some cash too](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2022/03/14/gettyimages-1310648900_sq-ea627df7e60c76e19948d82fa9ff8a954e955337.jpg?s=100&c=100&f=jpeg)
“How do we maintain parity and competitive balance when none of the more than 350 Division I basketball schools play football and are individually receiving millions of dollars through these large TV contracts?” he said
Will women receive equal pay as men?
The proposed settlement marks a new frontier for Title IX, the cornerstone civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational institutions that receive funding from the federal government.
The legacy of Title IX in college sports has been enormous. This is because schools must provide scholarships at the same rate to women as to men.
![Women's NCAA Championship TV ratings dominate men's competition](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/04/09/ap24098734961152_sq-3f621db1075c3d9d56f14fe8fdc237f2498cfe73.jpg?s=100&c=100&f=jpeg)
Now schools must decide whether and how the law applies to earnings paid to athletes. “It will depend on litigation to resolve this issue,” he said.
“There is no set, final answer as to how Title IX will be applied,” Winter said. “Some schools will assume that because of Title IX, 50% of the $20 million will go to female athletes and 50% will go to male athletes. Other schools will not make that assumption.”
Are the NCAA's antitrust troubles over?
The NCAA hopes the settlement will end years of antitrust litigation, but experts agree. The answer is no.
Of particular concern is that the agreement caps the payments. The payment is currently set at 22% of the average annual revenue for Power 5 schools. This figure is much lower than the percentage of revenue paid in professional sports such as the NFL and NBA, where players take about half of the revenue.
![Dartmouth men's basketball team votes to form union, shaking up college sports](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/03/05/gettyimages-2008856255_sq-f432c48a55f6286377b17167d011b57097a5aea2.jpg?s=100&c=100&f=jpeg)
In those leagues, players have agreed to receive a share of the revenue through collective bargaining agreements. These labor contracts provide legal protection from individual lawsuits for compensation, Mitten said. But no such bargaining agreement exists in college sports, where athletes are not considered employees. This means the NCAA is still exposed to antitrust lawsuits.
The NCAA and schools are already lobbying Congress to pass a federal antitrust exemption for college sports, which would protect them from future salary-related lawsuits.