Winston & Strawn Secures Multibillion-Dollar Settlement for College Athletes

Winston & Strawn and Hagens Berman recently announced jointly with the NCAA, Big Ten, SEC, Pac-12, Big 12 and ACC a landmark antitrust class-action settlement resolving three pending antitrust lawsuits which challenge NCAA limits on compensation and benefits that college athletes can receive for their athletic services and their names, images, and likenesses (NIL). In addition to paying more than $2.75 billion in damages to college athletes over a 10-year period, the settlement eliminates certain rules from the NCAA and conferences that prohibit direct payments from schools to athletes. The settlement also allows schools to share revenues directly with college athletes through new payments and benefits.

In the first year of the settlement, each school can share 22% of the average Power 5 school’s revenues. These new payments and benefits come in addition to scholarships, third-party NIL payments, health care and other benefits that college athletes already receive, and schools can choose to make the new payments and benefits to athletes playing any Division I sport. The settlement also eliminates NCAA scholarship caps to open the door to more opportunities for Division I athletes across every sport.

“When this settlement is finally approved, it will be transformative,” Jeffrey Kessler told Sports Business Journal. “It will provide a level of compensation and benefits to athletes that they've never been able to enjoy. ... For many of them, it will change their lives, and for the first time in history there’ll be a fair and just system to allow these athletes to share in the great bounty of revenues that they've been able to generate.”

The settlement was covered by the following media outlets:

• “Paying college athletes is closer than ever. How could it work and what stands in the way?,” The Associated Press
• “College athletes set to get $2.8 billion, revenue-sharing model in landmark House v. NCAA settlement,” CBS Sports
• “Top attorney in NCAA student-athlete deal joins The Lead,” CNN
• “NCAA, Power 5 agree to deal that will let schools pay players,” ESPN
• “NCAA, power conferences approve settlement that makes way for players to be directly paid,” The Athletic
• “What to know about House v. NCAA settlement and a historic day for college sports,” The Athletic
• “NCAA, Power Five conferences vote to approve $2.8B settlement in House, Hubbard and Carter cases,” Yahoo Sports
• “NCAA settlement Q&A: How will schools distribute revenue, what is the future of NIL collectives and more,” Yahoo Sports
• “Kessler Defends House v. NCAA Deal Amid Fontenot Case Flak,” Sportico
• “NCAA, Power Five conferences reach deal to let schools pay players,” USA Today
• “SBJ College: NCAA settlement framework ‘transformative,’ but raises questions,” Sports Business Journal
• “House settlement leaves numerous questions for NCAA, college sports moving forward,” Sports Business Journal
• “Here are the college athletes who likely would get paid first as the NCAA and top conferences approve $2.8 billion antitrust settlement,” Fortune
• “NCAA agrees to pay student-athletes billions in historic landmark antitrust settlement,” Washington Examiner
• “NCAA To Settle Class Action Lawsuit, Bringing $2.77B Windfall To College Athletes Past And Present,” Deadline
• “NCAA agrees to 'road map' settlement for college athlete payments,” Reuters
• “This 40-Year-Old Lawyer Took Lead for NCAA on Landmark Deal (2),” Bloomberg Law
• “NCAA, Athletes Settle NIL Class Action Over Billions In Pay,” Law360
• “Hagens Berman, Winston & Strawn Lead Student-Athletes to $2.75B NCAA Settlement Over NIL Compensation,” Law.com