NCAA, Power 5 Conferences to Allow Schools to Pay Players Directly After Settlement

The NCAA and its five power conferences—the ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12—have agreed on a multibillion-dollar settlement that would resolve three federal antitrust cases and allow schools to directly pay student-athletes, per ESPN's Dan Murphy and Pete Thamel.

The involved parties released the following statement:

The NCAA will pay $2.7 billion over 10 years in damages to both current and former athletes, according to ESPN's report.

While athletes dating back to 2016 are eligible for a piece of the settlement, the terms of the agreement dictate that athletes cannot sue the NCAA in future antitrust lawsuits and must drop their current complaints in a trio of ongoing lawsuits, House v. NCAA, Hubbard v. NCAA and Carter v. NCAA.

Schools will reportedly enter into a revenue-sharing plan that allows them to disperse up to $20 million per year to their student-athletes. The revenue sharing isn't expected to begin until fall 2025.

The pending settlement does not mean student-athletes will be directly considered school employees, though such efforts will persist. And another high-profile lawsuit against the NCAA—former Colorado football player Alex Fontenot's lawsuit regarding how the NCAA shares its television revenues with the players—remains ongoing and won't be included in this potential settlement.

The current settlement still needs the approval of Judge Claudia Wilken and is contingent on past and former college athletes choosing not to join a separate antitrust case. If a number of players choose to join Fontenot's lawsuit instead, the settlement agreed upon by the NCAA and conferences could fall apart.

Still, Thursday's news has the potential to be the latest milestone in the ever-evolving landscape of college sports.

"We recognize that we're just on the front end of this entire process," Josh Whitman, Illinois athletic director and chair of the NCAA's Division I Council, told ESPN. "There's a lot to be sorted out as we try to really wrap our arms around some of the details that we're putting in place now."