Notre Dame President Calls Out 'Undesirable' NCAA Settlement as 'Temporary' Solution

Notre Dame president Rev. John I. Jenkins described the NCAA's proposed $2.7 billion settlement on Thursday—that would allow schools from the five major conferences to directly pay players via a revenue-sharing plan—as "undesirable in many respects and promising only temporary stability," but he also called it "necessary to avoid what would be the bankruptcy of college athletics."

He also called on Congress to pass legislation that would supersede state laws, directly state that student-athletes aren't employees and would protect the NCAA and its schools from further potential anti-trust lawsuits:

It's hard to imagine Jenkins' comments will be all that popular among college athletes or advocates in favor of considering those athletes as university employees.

While NIL deals allow athletes to sign endorsement deals and profit off their likeness, until Thursday, schools were not directly paying those athletes. Thursday's settlement won't legally establish college athletes as school employees—that fight will persist separately—but it does represent the first direct payouts from universities to student-athletes.

The NCAA and its five power conferences (ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC) will create a revenue-sharing system to pay student-athletes over the next 10 years if the settlement is approved, with individual schools paying from a pool of $20 million per year.

Both current athletes and former athletes—who were unable to profit from NIL opportunities dating back to 2016, given the NCAA's prior restrictions—would be eligible for the payouts should they opt into the settlement. The proposed payments would begin in fall 2025.

"I'm hugely proud," the co-lead counsel for the student-athletes, Steve Berman, told ESPN's Dan Murphy and Pete Thamel. "This is a revolutionary change I never thought would happen when I started this. I'm thrilled for the student-athletes because this will be life-changing for all of them."

The NCAA and university presidents like Jenkins clearly don't agree. Given that they long benefited from the efforts of unpaid college athletes in a multibillion dollar industry, however, that response shouldn't come as a surprise.

But the courts and public opinion continue to bend toward the athletes. It wouldn't be a surprise if college athletes are eventually considered university employees and paid a salary from their schools. Thursday's settlement felt like another step in that direction, even if Jenkins and his kind fight against it, tooth and nail.