Big 12 Conference Votes to Settle House vs. NCAA

STILLWATER – The Big 12 may very well be leading the way this week. Pokes Report learned Oklahoma State President Dr. Kayse Shrum was on a video conference with her fellow Presidents and Chancellors in the Big 12 Conference at noon today and they voted to approve the settlement with the plaintiffs in the House vs. NCAA lawsuit. They are the first of the plaintiffs; which also includes the NCAA membership and other power conferences ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12, and SEC; to take this action. 

The vote was unanimous with soon-to-be departing members Oklahoma and Texas adstaining. ESPN originally reported this news. 

The other defendants in the case of the NCAA and that organization’s Board of Governors and the other Power Five conferences are expected to vote on the settlement later this week. Work on negotiating this settlement has been going on for months. 

The lawsuit was initially started by former Arizona State swimmer Grant House along with former Oregon and current TCU women’s basketball player Sedona Prince. They were the initial two plaintiffs, but the suit became a class-action suit involving thousands of athletes that believe they were denied by the NCAA their rights to earn money from their name, image, and likeness as athlete’s are allowed to do now. There are two other related lawsuits that this settlement will help to close as well.

The settlement will keep the damages to be paid to the plaintiff’s athletes to approximately $2.7 billion. If the defendants were to take this to court then with treble damages the final number could have ballooned to as much as $20 billion. The settlement also has a built in framework that will require Power Conference schools to share approximately $20 million of major revenue based on network television rights fees with the current student athletes. This will actually help the schools get past the third party collectives that have been involved in the distribution of NIL (really pay-for-play) monies to the student-athletes. 

This will be a longer process. The judge in the case, Senior District Judge Claudia Wilkin, will be able to approve the settlement, but this process will likely take 6-18 months. Details will need to be worked out. All Division I athletes have the opportunity to object to the terms or opt out of the class. There will be a preliminary hearing on the terms of the settlement and the judge will listen to any arguments against the settlement. This will all take time. 

Congress could way in on the suit and that is what some in the college sports business are hoping. Meanwhile, the NCAA, conferences, and the schools will need to come up with a plan to pay the financial settlement and make plans for adjusting budgets to pay the future revenue sharing dictated in the settlement. 

Schools, including some in the Big 12 have suggested budget cuts, layoffs, or dropping some sports. Iowa State recently suspended a major wrestling facilities project. The other ramification of this could be major college football separating from the athletic department and becoming a professional or semi-professional operation. This is the future “super league” and NFL-type model that has long been rumored. 

The Big 12 can’t do anything until all other defendents vote to accept the settlement.