The proposed $2.78 billion settlement of the House v. NCAA antitrust case is on hold after U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken expressed reservations about the terms on Thursday in Oakland, California.
Wilken stated her concern about provisions of the deal that could affect name, image and likeness (NIL) payments to student-athletes. She asked for a revision to be submitted within three weeks.
“I’m concerned about the third-party NIL restrictions,” Wilken said. “I’m concerned (the settlement) will limit those opportunities for people moving forward.”
Wilken asked NCAA attorney Rakesh Kilaru if the deal would end up with the organization paying athletes to play, but Kilaru insisted pay-for-play remains against the rules. She also voiced concern that future college athletes might be restricted by the pending revenue agreement, which will last 10 years.
Currently, boosters can provide NIL payments to athletes that essentially serve as salaries.
Wilken said, “The schools don’t have to pay those benefits, and the schools may or may not be able to pay those benefits, but clearly, the collectives or the boosters or the third parties do have those resources and are willing to pay them, apparently.”
She added, “I think we’ve got problems with this, and I don’t have an idea of how to fix them. So I think I’m just gonna have to throw this back on you all to see if you can come up with something better.”
One of the lead attorneys for the plaintiffs, Jeffrey Kessler, spoke to ESPN after the court session and said of the judge’s comments, “We are perfectly fine with those changes. It’s now up to the NCAA. Hopefully they’ll agree to them. If the deal falls apart, we go back to trial. If they want to face that, it’s a decision they have to make.”
The settlement would pay billions of dollars to current and former NCAA athletes.
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