Judge gives parties 14 days to alter House v. NCAA antitrust terms

A proposed settlement in a landmark NCAA antitrust class-action case needs more work to reach the finish line, a federal court judge in California ruled on Wednesday.

Claudia Wilken gave the sides 14 days to make changes, or else she would reject the settlement.

Wilken, of the Northern District of California, had approved a preliminary agreement worth $2.8 billion in damages to House v. NCAA on Oct. 7. The lawsuit, which was filed in 2020, targets the NCAA and the former Power 5 Conferences, arguing that players should receive NIL (name, image and likeness) payments dating back to before the NCAA allowed such compensation in 2021.

The agreement also would allow Division I schools to divide as much as $20.5 million to current players who are already in their athletic departments.

Trouble arose over a part of the preliminary agreement that mandated new roster limits in many sports. Wilken heard dozens of objections raised by parents and athletes that schools were cutting players from teams to meet those roster limits, leaving those athletes out of the compensation pool.

The judge said she wanted those players to be grandfathered in during a final agreement. She suggested that a settlement should stipulate that no members of the injunction relief settlement class "who have or had a roster spot will lose it as a result of the immediate implementation of the settlement agreement."

Wilken wrote that "any disruption that may occur is a problem of Defendants' and NCAA members schools' own making. The fact that the Court granted preliminary approval of the settlement agreement should not have been interpreted as an indication that it was certain that the Court would grant final approval."

In a statement, Steve Berman, co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs, said, "We are pleased that the court has rejected all of the objections but the roster issue, and we will work hard to convince the NCAA and the conferences to address the court's concerns. If we are unable to do so, then we are off to trial and we will return to fighting the NCAA in court with next steps."

The settlement aims to wrap up a consolidation of three cases: the original House v. NCAA, Carter v. NCAA and Hubbard v. NCAA.

--Field Level Media