NIL Battle to Resolve in April (maybe)

From USA Today: U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken is set to hold a final-approval hearing on April 7 concerning the agreements, which would include nearly $2.8 billion in damages that would go to current and former athletes over 10 years. They also would allow Division I schools to start paying athletes directly for use of their name, image and likeness (NIL) during the 2025-26 school year, subject to a per-school cap that would increase over time and be based on a percentage of certain athletics revenues.

More than 70 objections were filed with the court in January, including those that were dated by a Jan. 31 deadline, but did not enter the court record until weeks later. In addition, nearly 350 current or former athletes who could have participated in the proposed settlement have opted out, with several new lawsuits against the NCAA being spawned as a result.

Many of the objections were centered — sometimes in emotional, personal terms — on the sport-by-sport roster limits that would go into place for schools that participate in the settlement and begin making NIL deals with their athletes. The limits are likely to result in hundreds, if not thousands, of current walk-on athletes losing their places on Division I teams. The roster limits would be accompanied by the elimination of sport-by-sport scholarship limits that currently exist for all NCAA Division I schools.

Among the array of other objections were arguments that the per-school cap on NIL payments to athlete would just constitute another antitrust violation, the damages claims are being settled for too little money, and the allocation of damages payments discriminates against female athletes and sets the stage for future Title IX violations as schools set up allocations of NIL payments...

Full story at https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/2025/03/03/college-sports-revenue-sharing-house-settlement-objections-response/81262729007/.