It appears that only the NCAA and the P4 Conferences are defendants in this lawsuit. If so, will the potential settlement have any impact on the G5?
Any change in the current in FBS scholarship limit of 85 would have profound impacts on G5 schools. If P5 schools begin offering more it would dilute the quality of athletes available.
If a number of the P5 schools offer fewer it would instantly improve the competitive balance even if most G5 schools followed suit and offered fewer scholarships themselves.
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Agree - although there are several already offering kids not on scholly money via NIL (I also know of at least 1 G5 doing this) to essentially have more than 85 scholly lvl players. The roster limit of 110 is the only real restriction now. Many SEC & a few ACC schs have all 40 baseball players going to sch free via NIL (vs the 11.7 scholly limit). New day
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Shocking who is going to be victimized by the NCAA settlement. The real question is how Miami can continue athletics at the current level and bleed money when the G5 is becoming weaker and weaker. This article pretty well sums it up.
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Maybe this will be nudge for Miami to free itself from the NCAA.
The problem is that if you free yourself from the NCAA who do you play? Do you play? These are hard choices.
It seems that the entire college athletics world for schools in non P2 football conferences is poised to disintegrate.
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It is an ironically “sad” world when FSU and Clemson feel like “they are being left behind” in the revenue world and can’t keep up with the Big Power 2. They are getting a taste of what the group of 5 has dealt with for years. It is all a disaster and I’m afraid we will soon see things like the Football Club of “the” OSU (FCOSU) and FC ALA, etc. made up of NON-students getting ready for the NFL only and getting paid.
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A few notes on the House settlement, because 60% of my job is advising judges on whether to approve class action settlements. (Who knew I had actual expertise on something relevant!)
First, ESPN reports that the NCAA Board of Governors and the P5 conferences have agreed to a 13-page document that sets forth “general terms.” If that description is right, this is not the final settlement agreement. It’s an agreement on lots of the many details of the deal, with the final specifics yet to be worked out. Most of the time, those specifics don’t really matter to the parties and are pretty easy to iron out. But sometimes they matter a great deal, and more than one settlement has fallen apart even though both sides agreed on the big picture.
Second, ESPN reporting confirms the agreement has what’s colloquially called a “blow-up” provision. Class members are allowed to opt out of a settlement and go their own way. If too many of them opt out, the settlement is worthless to a defendant, because it will turn out they haven’t actually bought their peace. As a result, agreements often provide that if some portion of the class (say, over 10%) opts out, the agreement is void.
Third, and related to the above, the settlement formally covers three cases: House, Hubbard, and Carter. A fourth class is lurking in the background: Fontenot, where the plaintiff claims athletes are entitled to a share of TV revenues. The parties to this settlement apparently take the position that even though Fontenot isn’t formally part of the settlement, the settlement nevertheless will effectively end that case. Fontenot’s attorneys disagree, though they say they’re waiting to see the actual settlement papers. Importantly, since Fontenot is brought on behalf of the same players as the settling cases, Fonetnot’s attorneys might advise players to opt out of the settlement in the hopes of continuing to litigate TV revenues. This could trigger the blow-up clause mentioned above.
Finally, any class action must be approved by a court, and class members who don’t like the terms are welcome to object. You can bet Fontenot will vigorously object to any deal that extinguishes his case. (Note that Fontenot is represented by the attorneys who won a huge settlement for minor league baseball players.)
Anyway: there are a lot of moving parts here. It wouldn’t surprise me if this isn’t fully put to bed until sometime in 2026 or 2027, given appeals.
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If I’m leading one of the 27 “other” conferences I’m desperately seeking a path forward that bands those 27 together and leaves the NCAA behind. The screwjob on the settlements may be enough to get others thinking the same way but are there enough dollars out there to make it feasible and is there any understanding among them that they are stronger together than separate? It would take everyone banding together with full media rights sharing and strict limits on spending. Operate it more like the NFL possibly.
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If that other 27 included the Big East you could have a very viable basketball tournament- but you probably couldnt have the limit on spending
One thing I think gets overlooked in all this is that the NCAA isn’t just a bunch of employees in an office building in Indianapolis. Those people administer day-to-day things, but governance decisions like this are made either by the membership itself or by the board of governors, which is elected by the membership. Presidents of “other 27” universities are either voting in favor of this stuff themselves or voting to elect governors who vote in favor of it.
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i think Group of 5 needs to sue both NFL and Power 5 for player development. Also move football to Spring.
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Probably why they’d never put me in charge 
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The NCAA has long held that its primary purpose is conducting tournaments.
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They are about the University of Miami football star who could not get a free Porsche, not the Miami (Ohio) baseball player who could not get a discounted oil change.
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Will Rogers said “them’s what has gets” The rest just get screwed. I don’t get how four conferences weren’t out voted by the rest. Big guys vastly out numbered and obviously didn’t matter. NCAA rules of some sort that let’s them run over the small guys?
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I look at it this way: there may have been a real possibility that the plaintiffs were willing to settle with just the P5 schools and cut the NCAA out entirely. That’s not totally uncommon in cases where there are multiple defendants–the plaintiff settles with some but not all, and it ends up going to trial against whoever’s left. The risk to the remaining defendants is a jury verdict they’ve got to pay all by themselves, since the others settled out already.
If the plaintiffs were willing to consider that–something they’d probably have communicated to the NCAA in settlement discussions–it would have left the NCAA facing the possibility of a bazillion-dollar judgment it would have to pay on its own. And since the NCAA is ultimately nothing more than its member schools, the schools would be the ones paying that bazillion-dollar judgment. But, because the P5 schools would already have settled out, it would be all the other NCAA schools stuck holding the bag.
Being able to purchase your peace can be worth a lot, even if you think the price is higher than you’d like.
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I know this has been previously discussed but with the House settlement when do college sports go back to being college sports? I have been a Miami fan since about 1973 but when do we reach the point that we need to recenter and make college about education again? It’s time that Miami and other G5 schools do some real soul-searching and be proactive about the future rather than being dragged along by the Ohio States, Michigans, and Alabamas of the world. The amount students have to pay for athletics should be scandalous not just at Miami but at most schools.
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