NCAA Settlement : NCAA and Power Five Conference Agreed to Pay Former Players $2.8 Billion and Share Revenue With Future Players

In a landmark decision that reshapes the landscape of college athletics, the NCAA and the Power Five conferences have agreed to a monumental $2.8 billion settlement to resolve antitrust claims brought by former college athletes. The settlement, announced this week, not only compensates former players for lost earnings tied to name, image, and likeness (NIL) restrictions but also paves the way for a revenue-sharing model with current and future athletes.

The agreement stems from a series of lawsuits challenging the NCAA’s previous rules that prohibited athletes from earning money from their NIL, despite the massive revenues generated by college sports. Thousands of former student-athletes will now be eligible for back pay, making this one of the largest settlements in the history of college sports.

In addition to the payout, the NCAA and Power Five conferences — the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC — have committed to a new model of athlete compensation. Schools will now be allowed to directly share a portion of their revenue with athletes, a major shift from the long-standing amateurism model that has governed college sports for over a century.

This settlement is expected to have wide-ranging implications for the future of college athletics, including how schools recruit, retain, and support student-athletes in an increasingly professionalized environment. While details of the revenue-sharing framework are still being finalized, experts believe it will fundamentally change the role of college athletes and the financial structure of collegiate sports programs across the nation.

As the NCAA adjusts to a new era, this historic agreement signals a growing recognition of athletes’ rights and the evolving business of college sports.