SOUTH COUNTY
President ’ s
COLUMN
March Madness
The House v . NCAA Settlement and Title IX
by Jacqulyn Mack-Majka , Esq . Mack-Majka Law Firm Chartered , Inc .
March Madness ends with the Men ’ s Final Four basketball games scheduled for April 5th and 7th of this year . Coinciding with the last game on April 7th is the Final Approval Hearing in front of Judge Claudia Wilken who is presiding over the three antitrust class action cases , House v . NCAA filed in 2020 , Hubbard v . NCAA filed in April 2023 and Carter v . NCAA filed in December 2023 , commonly referred to as House v . NCAA .
Judge Wilken granted preliminary approval of the proposed class action settlement , which applies to the five biggest collegiate conferences , on October 7 , 2024 , and as stated the final approval hearing is scheduled for April 7 , 2025 . The current proposed settlement is broken into two parts :
The first part is retroactive and requires the NCAA and its member institutions pay approximately $ 2.78 billion over a ten year period . These payments will retroactively compensate D-I athletes for NCAA prohibited NIL , video games , broadcasts and other revenue generating activities . Behind football players , men and women ’ s basketball players are expected to receive significant shares .
The second stage is prospective and effective for the 2025-2026 academic year . Colleges will be permitted to opt into a program where each can directly pay increased monetary and non-monetary benefits which includes use of NIL . Each participating school may pay its athletes up to 22 % of the average Power 5 media , ticket and sponsorship revenue . It imposes roster limits but eliminates scholarship limits allowing the schools to decide whether to offer partial or full scholarships so long as they don ’ t exceed roster limits .
On January 17 , 2025 the U . S . Department of Education ’ s Office of Civil Rights released a nine page fact sheet illustrating why Title IX , a statute requiring gender equity in college sports , does apply to NIL and that the House v . NCAA revenue-sharing payments would be classified as “ athletic financial assistance ”. This means that any school that receives federal financial assistance is required to provide equal athletic opportunity based on sex – including publicity , support services , opportunities , treatment , and most importantly according to the Department of Education , “ that schools not discriminate in the provision of athletic financial assistance .” To be clear , Title IX regulations require schools to “ provide reasonable opportunities for such awards for members of each sex in proportion to the number of students of each sex participating in interscholastic or intercollegiate athletics .” For example , under the US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights position , under Title IX a college could not set aside more than seventy percent of their allotted revenue sharing to go back to football which could violate Title IX compliance . Whether
14 | THE DOCKET - MARCH SUMMER 2025 2024