Frying Pan to Fire: The NCAA and Player Compensation in the Wake of the House v. NCAA Settlement

Course Description

In June 2025, a federal court approved the landmark House v. NCAA class action settlement, authorizing Division 1 schools to share upwards of $20 million in athletic revenue directly with student-athletes. The NCAA, power conferences, and player advocates hoped the new rules and structures ushered in by the settlement would provide stability after a chaotic few years of escalating NIL payments, transfer portal hyperactivity, and persistent angst about the fate of non-revenue “Olympic” revenue. But with the 2025-26 athletic season drawing near its conclusion, the chaos has only intensified.

Syllabus

1. The terms of last summer’s House settlement, including with respect to revenue sharing and third-party NIL compensation
2. the trials and tribulations faced by the NCAA and the College Sports Commission, the new entity born from House, to oversee revenue sharing and enforce limitations on third-party NIL deals
3. The legal questions and ramifications stemming from high-profile instances of players transferring or threatening to transfer to new schools after signing lucrative NIL deals with their original institution
4. The ongoing, multi-faceted fight over the NCAA’s longstanding eligibility restrictions, including the “four in five rule” and the prohibition on professional athletes obtaining eligibility
5. The impact on so-called “Olympic” sports generates less revenue than football and basketball
6. And the status of efforts by Congress and, more recently, the Oval Office to codify a uniform set of rules