Breaking Down the House Settlement for Back Pay and Revenue Sharing

Last Updated on June 8, 2025

The House settlement has officially been filed with the court, which means we’re one step closer to it becoming a reality (pending other procedural steps and final approval, which won’t occur until sometime in 2025).

The settlement would end both the House (broadcast, video games and NIL), Carter (compensation limits) and Hubbard (Alston awards) cases. However, many attorneys and commentators have expressed concern that the settlement not only invites new litigation over its terms but also doesn’t solve all of the outstanding litigation in college sports. I’ll leave that for another post though and focus here on the terms of the proposed settlement.

As previously reported, the backpay portion of the settlement will see $2.75 billion in damages go to athletes over a 10-year period. The total value of new payments and benefits is expected to be more than $20 billion over the next 10 years.

Below, I’ve attempted to break down the terms that are most important for administrators, collectives and athletes to know. The proposed settlement agreement is 133 pages, and there’s additional information on Plaintiffs counsel Hagens Berman’s website, so this is not meant to be an exhaustive look at everything, just an overview of the key pieces. You can access the full settlement here.

Back Pay Terms

Plaintiffs counsel Hagens Berman provided an overview on the proposed allocations for the backpay (more detail by sport is in the next section):

• Football and men’s basketball: $135,000 on average
• Women’s basketball: $35,000 on average
• Others: dependent on the sport, school, years played and number of athletes who participate in the settlement
• Athletes who played in any Division I sport before the NCAA changed its rules in 2021 to allow for NIL will be eligible for additional compensation based on the NIL payments they received after the rule change. The highest damages in this category are expected to exceed $1 million, with the highest being estimated at $1.859 million.
• Athletes who played any Division I sport in a Power 5 between the 2019-20 and 2021-22 years will be eligible for thousands more to compensate for Alston awards

Detailed Breakdown of Back Pay by Sport

Now for the more detailed breakdown. There are three groups of athletes who will receive back pay under the settlement:

• Football and men’s basketball athletes who received, or will receive, a full grant-in-aid scholarship and played, or will play, on a Division I men’s basketball team or an FBS football team that is a member of the Power Five (including Notre Dame) and have been, or will be, initially eligible from June 15, 2016 to September 15, 2024. Plaintiffs counsel Hagens Berman provided the following estimates for this group, broken down by the type of damages claimed:
  • Broadcast NIL: Average approx. $91,000. Range from $15,000 to $280,000.
  • Videogame: Range from approx. $300 to $4,000 per athlete.
  • Lost NIL Opportunities: Average approx. $17,000. Range from less than $1 to approx. $800,000.
  • Pay-for-play: Average approx. $40,000.
• Women’s basketball athletes who received, or will receive, a full grant-in-aid scholarship and played, or will play, on a Division I women’s basketball team that is a member of the Power Five (including Notre Dame) and have been, or will be, initially eligible from June 15, 2016 to September 15, 2024. Plaintiffs counsel Hagens Berman provided the following estimates for this group, broken down by the type of damages claimed:
  • Broadcast NIL: Average approx. $23,000. Range from $3,000 to $52,000.
  • Lost NIL Opportunities: Average approx. $8,500. Range from less than $1 to $300,000.
  • Pay-for-play: Average approx. $14,000.
• All other athletes who played, or will play, on a Division I team (other than those listed above, including football and basketball players in non-Power Five conferences) and have been, or will be, initially eligible from June 15, 2016 to September 15, 2024. Plaintiffs counsel Hagens Berman provided the following estimates for this group:
  • Video Game
    • Football and men’s basketball in non-Power Five conferences for video game: Range from approx. $300 to $4,000.
  • Pay-for-Play
    • Baseball (Power Five): $400 average
    • Football, “Top Non-Power Five Football” (AAC, Mountain West and BYU): $1,400 average
    • Men’s Basketball, Big East: $6,700 average
    • Men’s Basketball, “Top Non-Power Five” (AAC, Atlantic 10, Mountain West, Gonzaga): $2,400 average
    • Women’s Basketball, “Top Non-Power Five” (AAC, Big East, Gonzaga): $300 average
    • All Others: $50 average
  • Lost NIL Opportunities
    • Average approx. $5,300. Range from less than $1 to $1,859,000.

Backpay payments will be made in equal, annual installments over ten years, with the first payment being made into the escrow account for distribution on May 15, 2025 (or within 45 days of the final order, whichever is later). In subsequent years, payments will be deposited into the escrow account for disbursement on July 15th each year.

If you’re an athlete wondering how to ensure you don’t get left out if you have a valid claim, here’s guidance from Plaintiffs counsel Hagens Berman:

The proposed notice program includes direct email or postcard notice and publication notice to more than 80% of potential class members. Notice of the settlement will also take place digitally via social media and online news media. The settlement administrator will maintain a case-specific website, www.collegeathletecompensation.com, to provide class members with access to information about the settlement.

Revenue Sharing Terms

Revenue sharing begins the first academic year after the final approval of the settlement, which is expected to come in early 2025. That means revenue sharing should be permissible beginning with the 2025-2026 school year.

Limits on Direct Payments

The NCAA has to change its rules under the terms of the settlement to allow for schools to make direct payments to athletes. However, any payment to athletes above what is permitted in the settlement (and existed prior to it, such as Alston payments) is still prohibited.

Schools/Collectives as Marketing Agents

Schools may now enter into exclusive or non-exclusive agreements with athletes for use of their NIL, including to promote the brand of the institution. However, those agreements cannot be for use of the athlete’s NIL in a broadcast game/event.

The school (or a party it designates, such as an NIL collective or marketing agency) can act as the athlete’s marketing agent for third-party NIL contracts. In other words, if the athlete agrees to it, the school/collective/agency can represent the athlete in finding and entering into NIL deals with brands.

NIL agreements between the school (or the NCAA or one of the Power Five conferences) and the athlete cannot extend beyond their eligibility for participation in NCAA sports. However, any content created while the athlete is enrolled can continue to be used after the athlete’s eligibility is complete if allowed by the agreement signed while the athlete was enrolled.

There’s a big caveat here: it has to be content created for promotion of the school’s academic or athletic program, not good or services using the athlete’s NIL or content created to promote the goods or services of a third party. So, a school could continue to use a video that promoted attending the institution, but it couldn’t continue to use a video promoting a team sponsor.

Types of Revenue Shared

The pool of revenue that can be shared with athletes will be equal to 22% of the average revenue of the Power Five, plus Notre Dame, for specific categories of revenue.

The types of revenue considered for the calculation of the revenue sharing pool include revenue categories 1, 7, 11, 12, 13, 13A, 15 and 19 (Ticket Sales, Guarantees, Media Rights, NCAA Distributions, Conference Distributions (Non-Media and Non-Football Bowl), Conferences Distributions of Football Bowl Generated Revenue, Royalties, Licensing, Advertisement and Sponsorships and Football Bowl Revenues). The settlement makes clear the “Ticket Sales” category does include suite licenses, but does not include associated donations (Category 8) or use of the suites for non-athletic events (such as concerts).

The average shared revenue will be recalculated every three years of the term, with the second and third year of each three-year period being a 4% increase of the previous year.

There are a couple of events that may change this procedure during the 10-year term of the settlement. First, if any new broadcast agreement that would be reported under Category 11 (Media Rights) has a provision setting a year-over-year rights fee escalator greater than 4%, it may adjust the calculation (pursuant to a laid out formula in the settlement).

Second, Plaintiffs counsel has two opportunities during the 10-year term to accelerate the recalculation of the pool based on the most recently filed MFRS reports. A new three-year period would then begin.

If something like COVID-19 were to happen again, the parties have agreed to negotiate a recalculation of the pool.

Benefits that Count Against the Pool of Revenue Shared

Some benefits paid to athletes will count against the revenue sharing pool available:

• Any of the new payments/benefits provided to athletes under the settlement, including payments to athletes under contracts between the school and athlete for use of the athlete’s NIL (but does not include payments from third parties as a result of the school acting as marketing agent for the athlete or any funds from sublicensing the institution’s rights under a direct contract with the athlete)
• Alston Awards (capped at $2.5 million per year, per institution)
• Full cost-of-attendance value of new scholarships created by the new roster limits (capped at $2.5 million per year, per institution)

It’s also worth noting there’s a provision that specifically allows for schools or conferences to each make decisions as to whether to eliminate or reduce any payments or benefits currently provided or that may be provided in the future. For example, a school could decide to reduce Alston payments, reduce scholarships, cut sports, etc.

Mandatory Reporting

All Division I athletes will be required to report to their school and/or a designated reporting entity (which may be created/identified by the NCAA and conferences later) all third-party NIL contracts or payments with a value of $600 or more. If the athlete receives multiple payments, or multiple agreements, with the same party (or two parties with the same ownership), those will be need to be disclosed if the aggregate value is at or above $600.

Schools will be sharing the NIL contracts/payments disclosed to them with the designated reporting entity and the Plaintiffs counsel from the House case. Schools will also be reporting all agreements they enter into with athletes for promotion of the school/athletics program and any other payments or benefits provided to an athlete or their family. Additionally, schools will need to disclose any agreements made by third parties (such as collectives) that originate from, are funded by or made on behalf of the school.

A note for schools outside of the Power Five: if you choose to provide any of the benefits of the settlement (revenue sharing, incremental scholarships), you must follow all the terms of the settlement.

Elimination of Scholarship Limits

All Division I athletic scholarships have been eliminated as part of the settlement, with new roster limits set. All scholarships will be equivalency awards (meaning they can all be partial).

Here are the new roster limits:

• Acrobatics and Tumbling: 55
• Baseball: 34
• Basketball (men’s): 15
• Basketball (women’s): 15
• Beach Volleyball (women’s): 19
• Bowling (women’s): 11
• Cross Country (men’s): 17
• Cross Country (women’s): 17
• Equestrian (women’s): 50
• Fencing (men’s): 24
• Fencing (women’s): 24
• Field Hockey (women’s): 27
• Football: 105
• Golf (men’s): 9
• Golf (women’s): 9
• Gymnastics (men’s): 20
• Gymnastics (women’s): 20
• Ice Hockey (men’s): 26
• Ice Hockey (women’s): 26
• Indoor Track and Field (men’s): 45
• Indoor Track and Field (women’s): 45
• Lacrosse (men’s): 48
• Lacrosse (women’s): 38
• Outdoor Track and Field (men’s): 45
• Outdoor Track and Field (women’s): 45
• Rifle (12)
• Rowing (women’s): 68
• Rugby (women’s): 36
• Skiing (men’s): 16
• Skiing (women’s): 16
• Soccer (men’s): 28
• Soccer (women’s): 28
• Softball: 25
• Stunt: 65
• Swimming & Diving (men’s): 30
• Swimming & Diving (women’s): 30
• Tennis (men’s): 10
• Tennis (women’s): 10
• Triathlon (women’s): 14
• Volleyball (men’s): 18
• Volleyball (women’s): 18
• Water Polo (men’s): 24
• Water Polo (women’s): 24
• Wrestling (men’s): 30
• Wrestling (women’s): 30

The settlement specifies that schools maintain the right to decide how many sports to sponsor, their own roster size (up to the limit) and the number of scholarships offered. Conferences can also choose to change the number of sports required to be sponsored by each school in their conference or the number sponsored by the conference.

There’s also a provision that allows the NCAA to increase or decrease roster limits, as long as any changes comply with the terms of the settlement.

Potential New NCAA and Conference Rules

Section 3 of the settlement allows for the NCAA or conferences to adopt some additional rules before or in conjunction with the settlement. The exact language is that they “may adopt,” meaning these are not rules yet.

• Prohibiting boosters (individually or collectively) from NIL deals unless the license/payment is for “a valid business purpose related to the promotion or endorsement of goods or services provided to the general public for profit” at rates comparable to what a non-athlete similarly situated would receive
• Capping the number of years an athlete may receive payment at four years in a five-year consecutive period (with the exception of a national force majeure event)
• Requiring athletes to continue to make progress toward a degree in order to receive benefits
• Permitting athletes the ability to seek guidance from a designated enforcement entity prior to entering an NIL agreement to determine if it is within NCAA rules
• Permitting an athlete to retain or regain eligibility if they rescind or modify (and return any compensation already received for) any NIL agreement that isn’t NCAA-compliant

Rights to NIL for Broadcasts and Promotions

As part of the settlement, the athletes covered by the settlement (and Plaintiffs counsel) are agreeing not to contest the NCAA and its member institutions right to broadcast and otherwise distribute audio and video of collegiate games/events, live, delayed or on an archived basis, in any type of media, including clips and highlights. This includes producing, licensing, offering for sale, selling, marketing or otherwise distributing this video and audio. The NCAA and its member institutions also have the right to use athlete NIL to promote the telecasts, broadcasts and other distributions of the video and audio.

However, the settlement says this doesn’t include the right to use an athlete’s NIL in a way that implies the athlete is endorsing a third-party brand, product or service, except in connection with a game that has a title sponsor (such as the Allstate Sugar Bowl). There is no right to use athlete NIL in licensed consumer products (video games, trading cards, apparel), but it is okay to use photos and video footage from games/events as long as it doesn’t “prominently feature an individual student-athlete in connection with a third party produce or service.”

Challenging Discipline

If athletes or institutions want to challenge any discipline imposed on them because of the terms of the settlement, they will be required to submit to arbitration.

In the Event of Employment and Collective Bargaining

The settlement contemplates what might happen if some (or all) athletes are determined to be employees and/or are able to engage in collective bargaining. The benefits under the settlement can be made part of any collective bargaining agreement, and the parties may agree to additional, expanded or different benefits than those in the settlement.

The NCAA and Power 5 conferences involved in this settlement may also seek to modify or terminate the settlement if they are required to pay benefits to athletes beyond those included in the settlement, but the Plaintiffs counsel has reserved its right to oppose such a modification or termination.

Opting Out of the Settlement

If you’re an athlete who wants to opt out of the settlement, you’ll need to do so before the deadline specified in the notice you will receive. The NCAA does have an option to terminate the settlement if the number of opt-outs is equal to or more than a number specified in the settlement (which was redacted).