Two things that have been in the college athletics news are related: Nico & the House settlement.

While the settlement is being hailed by some as a cure all for college athletics, it forces everyone to continue living the fantasy athletes aren’t being paid for athletic services. Because the contracts athletes sign with collectives & schools are only for “NIL” rights, they can’t stop athletes from going to play for another school.

At best, a contract might require an athlete to pay a buyout to get back some of those NIL rights.

Current & former college athletes that are members of the House settlement classes, tomorrow is the deadline for opting out of the settlement’s damages classes & objecting to the settlement terms.

There’s also confusing info circulating.

So here’s what you need to know.

🧵 👇 First, the House settlement contains two types of settlement classes: damages class and an injunctive relief class.

If you fall within the class definitions, you can’t “opt-in” to either the damages class or the injunctive relief class.

You are already “in” both classes.

I've heard there's confusion among some ADs and others as to how the $2.8B in House back damages will be distributed to former and current athletes.

So let's take a look at who's in the three House damages classes and who will be receiving back damages payments.

🧵 As I mentioned above, there are 3 House damages classes.

1. Scholarship P5 (plus Notre Dame) football🏈 and men's🏀 players who played between June 15, 2016 and Sept 2023.

2. Scholarship P5 (plus Notre Dame) women's🏀 players who played between June 15, 2016 and Sept 2023.

The SEC will look to how the House plaintiffs’ attorneys divide up the $2.8B in back damages for guidance on how to make future #NIL payments to athletes.

90% of the damages $ will likely go to 🏈 & men’s 🏀 players, based on the value of broadcast deals for those sports.

🧵

https://twitter.com/rossdellenger/status/1796318900231262570

Which means 90% of future NIL $$ schools pay to their athletes will potentially also be going to athletes in those two sports.

That would be around $19.8M of the $22M cap.

This makes sense from a market value perspective, if NIL payments are for use of NILs in tv broadcasts.

If/when the House case settles, it will result in a wave of legal issues.

Here are some of the bigger ones:

1. NCAA/conferences vs #NIL collectives

The NCAA/P4 are hoping the House settlement eliminates collectives and they’re going to try and crack down on “pay for play.” The thought is by allowing donors to give directly to schools (who can then pay athletes) it eliminates the need to give to collectives.

But with a cap & some schools worried about Title IX (more on that below), there may still be a need for collectives to compensate athletes.

After reading the NLRB general counsel’s memo again, there are a few important issues/questions I noticed.

1. The memo’s decision that athletes are employees seems to hinge on athletes being compensated via athletic scholarships. It appears walk-one are not deemed employees. 2. I’ve seen commentary that this only applies to athletes at private schools. The NLRB was aware of this and addressed it in footnote 34. It says when a conference is an independent private entity it may exert jurisdiction over the conference/NCAA even if members are public.