NCAA Leaders Are Reportedly Developing a Revenue Sharing Model With Student-Athletes

ESPN — The leaders of college sports are involved in "deep discussions" to reach a legal settlement that would likely lay out the framework for sharing revenue with athletes in a future NCAA business model, sources told ESPN.

The NCAA and its power conferences are defendants in an antitrust class action lawsuit, House v. NCAA, which argues that the association is breaking federal law by placing any restrictions on how athletes make money from selling the rights to their name, image or likeness. The case is scheduled to go to court in January 2025. If the plaintiffs win at trial, the NCAA and its schools could be liable to pay more than $4 billion in damages, which has motivated many leaders across the industry to seek a settlement.

While sources stressed that no deal is imminent, details about what a multibillion-dollar settlement could look like are expected to be shared with campuses in the near future. There are myriad variables to get to the finish line and still some obstacles and objections at the campus level, but sources indicate that progress has ramped up in recent weeks.

A settlement would provide some legal relief for a college sports industry that's been peppered by lawsuits. It could also serve as a keystone piece to formulating a more stable future. With the settlement expected to cost billions in back pay for former athletes, it would likely also require the NCAA and conferences to agree to a system for sharing more revenue with some of the players moving forward.

It's coming, folks. All it took was a litany of lawsuits that would almost certainly cause the NCAA to cease to exist to get here, but it seems like collegiate athletes will be actually getting paid by the schools they're playing for sooner than later.

I understand why the NCAA and its members fought this for so long, but it's only a matter of time now. If they don't get on top of this and control it, someone else will and it will be the wild west, not dissimilar to what has happened with NIL and the transfer portal after the NCAA had its head buried in the sand for decades. So while the current system of fans and rich boosters paying the players so the schools don't have to is a pretty awesome deal for them, they also have an interest in making sure they lay out what the next model is going to look like before a private equity group does it for them.

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If and when a revenue sharing model is put in place, it's going to be great for everyone. Obviously the players will finally be getting paid fairly as the employees they've been for many years, but this should also quell much of the drama with the transfer portal, too. When you're signing an employee to a contract, you can make it a multi-year deal with a huge buyout just like you can with coaches.

I'm fascinated to see what this ends up looking like when it's all put together. Even with all the radical changes we've seen in college sports over the last five years, nothing is close to the shift this will cause.