Major college sports underwent another seismic shift Friday night when a federal judge in Oakland, Calif., gave final approval to the House v. NCAA settlement that brings on the distribution of billions of dollars — yes, billions with a ‘B’ — to past, current and future student-athletes.
Judge Claudia Wilken of the Northern District Court of California signaled during an April 7 hearing that she was close to giving final approval to the House settlement but had a key hang-up. She wanted a group of student-athletes who would lose their roster spots under the settlement to be grandfathered into the agreement.
She tasked the defendants — the NCAA and its major conferences — to produce a plan and report back. By Friday, the sides agreed to a compromise plan to temporarily exceed the roster limits.
“Despite some compromises, the settlement agreement nevertheless will result in extraordinary relief for members of the settlement classes,” Wilken, a 75-year-old Minneapolis native who attended Derham Hall High School, wrote in the ruling. “… It would permit levels and types of student-athlete compensation that have never been permitted in the history of college sports, while also very generously compensating Division I student-athletes who suffered past harms."
Already, big-time college sports have been turned upside down in recent years with name, image and likeness (NIL) contracts that put money in athletes’ pockets, plus the availability to switch schools seemingly at any time thanks to the transfer portal and its athlete-friendly rules. The House settlement now allows direct payments from the school to athletes.