The NCAA and plaintiffs filed on Friday a long-form agreement to settle a multi-billion dollar, class-action lawsuit that paves the way for a new revenue-sharing model and governance that introduces roster-size limits and NIL regulation in major college athletics.
“NCAA college athletes have waited decades for this moment, and their right to receive the full value of their hard work has finally arrived,” Steve Berman, managing partner and co-founder of plaintiff law firm Hagens Berman told CBS Sports. “We are incredibly proud to be in the final stages of historic change.”
The 100-page agreement filed in the Northern District of California provides more details on terms of the settlement, which involves three class-action lawsuits, most notably the House v. NCAA. The newest and most consequential details include roster-size limits beginning with the 2025-26 seasons, which were determined by power conference commissioners earlier in the week, and unlimited scholarships in all sports. The agreement also sets the stage to share up to 22% of total revenues to future athletes and the establishment of a clearinghouse to help govern name, image and likeness deals.
“This is another important step in the ongoing effort to provide increased benefits to student-athletes while creating a stable and sustainable model for the future of college sports,” an NCAA spokesperson wrote in a press release. “While there is still much work to be done in the settlement approval process, this is a significant step toward establishing clarity for the future of all of Division I athletics while maintaining a lasting education-based model for college sports, ensuring the opportunity for student-athletes to earn a degree and the tools necessary to be successful in life after sports.”
Schools will also have flexibility in sharing scholarships, with all sports now labeled as “equivalency sports,” allowing for partial scholarships to be distributed to…
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