Landmark college settlement gets preliminary OK
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Dan Murphy, ESPN Staff Writer
College athletes moved one significant step closer Monday to a future in which they can be paid directly by their schools.
Judge Claudia Wilken granted preliminary approval to the terms of an industry-changing antitrust settlement Monday morning, accepting a series of changes made by attorneys representing all Division I athletes, the NCAA and its Power Five conferences.
Wilken initially raised concerns that some elements of the settlement would limit future payments to players and fail to pass legal muster, but she wrote in her ruling this week that the court “will likely be able to approve the settlement as fair, reasonable and adequate.”
Wilken’s order also established a schedule for the remaining steps to finalize the deal. Any athletes impacted by the settlement will have until Jan. 31 to file objections or opt out. A final hearing to approve the deal is schedule for April 7, 2025 — coincidentally the same day as the men’s basketball championship game.
In May, attorneys for all parties agreed to settle a trio of antitrust lawsuits (House v. NCAA, Hubbard v. NCAA and Carter v. NCAA) that claimed the association’s rules are illegally restricting the earning potential of college athletes. The NCAA agreed to pay roughly $2.8 billion in damages to former and current college athletes.
The deal also eliminates the restrictions on schools directly paying their players which have long been a cornerstone of the NCAA’s amateurism rules. If the settlement is finalized, starting next year schools will be allowed to pay their players up to a certain limit. The cap is expected to start at slightly more than $20 million per school and increase on an annual basis.
“We are thrilled that we are one step closer to a revolutionary change in college sports that will allow NCAA athletes to share in billions of revenue,” said Steve Berman, co-lead counsel for the plaintiff class.
Berman and fellow plaintiff attorney Jeffrey Kessler will begin sharing more information about the details of the settlement with athletes at all Division I schools later this month. By December, all athletes who have competed in a Division I sport since 2016 will be able to receive an estimate of how much they could receive from the damages pool.
NCAA president Charlie Baker previously has said the settlement is a key step toward reshaping the economic model of college sports into one in which athletes can be paid without being considered employees. Baker said this summer that the NCAA would still need help from Congress to stop several pending legal challenges that claim college athletes should be considered employees of their schools.
“We are thrilled by Judge Wilken’s decision to give preliminary approval to the landmark settlement that will help bring stability and sustainability to college athletics while delivering increased benefits to student-athletes for years to come,” Baker said in a statement Monday.
“Today’s progress is a significant step in writing the next chapter for the future of college sports. We look forward to working with all of Division I, and especially student-athlete leadership groups to chart the path forward and drive historic change.”
Wilken granted preliminary approval to the terms of the deal despite objections raised about whether the settlement fairly allocated the damages. The plaintiffs estimate that roughly 90% of the $2.8 billion will go to football and men’s basketball players because broadcast rights for those sports generate the overwhelming majority of revenue in college sports.
Multiple groups told the judge they believed such an allotment would be unfair to women athletes and could be a violation of federal Title IX laws. As part of the settlement, athletes would have to agree to forgo their rights to file Title IX lawsuits about the disbursement of the damages.
Other objectors also raised concerns about a part of the deal that will allow the NCAA to place restrictions on a defined group of third-party boosters and the name, image and likeness deals they can strike with college athletes. The restrictions are designed to stop the current system of NIL-based collectives that use endorsement deals to attract and retain players to a specific team.
Removing collectives would place a more stringent cap on what each team is able to spend to build its roster.
Wilken said during a hearing for preliminary approval in early September that she thought the restriction on collectives might be considered an illegal restraint. She also indicated it would be difficult to define which third-party groups the NCAA could restrict. Plaintiffs’ attorneys submitted new language more narrowly defining the controversial term in late September.
The settlement is likely to face continued scrutiny from those who have already objected to some of the restrictions, including at least one group of athletes who field a separate antitrust lawsuit last November.
Knight’s Choice has won the 2024 Melbourne Cup, defeating Warp Speed and Okita Soushi in a thrilling finish at Flemington on Tuesday afternoon.
The massive outsider saluted for Irish-born jockey Robbie Dolan, who claimed victory in what was his first ever ride in the “race that stops a nation”.
In what was a gripping 164th staging of Australia’s most-watched thoroughbred race, Knight’s Choice proved too strong in a sprint to the finish, pulling over the top of Okita Soushi and holding off Warp Speed by the barest of margins.
Trained by John Symons and Sheila Laxon on the Sunshine Coast, Knight’s Choice was well down the betting across all markets. It was Laxon’s second Melbourne Cup triumph after she trained Ethereal to victory 23 years ago.
“This is the pinnacle of all pinnacles, this is the Melbourne Cup,” Symons said.
Zardozi rounded out the first four.
As the field approached the final few hundred metres it appeared as though Jamie Kah, aboard Okita Soushi, would become just the second woman to ride the winner in the Melbourne Cup. But Okita Soushi was swallowed up as the winning post neared, with Knight’s Choice beating Warp Speed to the line after a peach of a ride from Dolan.
“We’ll be singing tonight after a few beers,” Dolan, who was a contestant on the 2022 edition of “The Voice”, told Channel 9.
“It is amazing and a lot of people doubted this little horse. Doubt me now.”
Laxon was more than happy with the ride, with Dolan threading his way through the field from near last on the bend.
“He started the race, and he knew how to ride him. We didn’t give him instructions, he knew what to do,” she said.
“I love it being down for the Australians. The Australian horse has done it, and Robbie is Australian now as well, so I’m thrilled to win the Cup, and it is the people’s Cup, and that’s what it is all about.”
Knight’s Choice is just the sixth Australian-bred horse to win since 1993, and the first since Vow and Declare back in 2019.
The five-year-old gelding carried only 51kg to victory and was making its first start over the 3200m trip. It had most recently come off a fifth-placed finish in the Bendigo Cup, but had showed sparing little form this preparation otherwise.
“I watched every Melbourne Cup for the last 40 years. I thought my best chance was to get him to stay the trip and, hopefully, he can run home and do the quick sectionals he can on a good track and he proved everybody wrong,” Dolan said.
MILWAUKEE — The Brewers‘ starting rotation could have a new look next season with right-handers Frankie Montas and Colin Rea heading into free agency.
The Brewers announced Monday that Montas had declined his part of a $20 million mutual option for 2025. The Brewers turned down the $5.5 million club option on Rea’s contract.
Montas receives a $2 million buyout and Rea gets a $1 million buyout.
In other moves Monday, right-hander Kevin Herget was claimed off waivers by the New York Mets, and left-hander Rob Zastryzny was claimed off waivers by the Chicago Cubs. First baseman Jake Bauers and right-hander Bryse Wilson cleared waivers and were sent outright to Triple-A Nashville.
Montas, 31, had a combined 7-11 record with a 4.84 ERA and 148 strikeouts over 150⅔ innings in 30 starts for the Cincinnati Reds and Brewers this season. He was 3-3 with a 4.55 ERA in 11 starts for the Brewers, who acquired him just before the trade deadline.
Rea, 34, was 12-6 with a 4.28 ERA this season in 32 appearances, including 27 starts. He struck out 135 in 167⅔ innings. Rea had an 8.31 ERA in September and was left off the Brewers’ NL Wild Card Series roster.
Herget, 33, had no record with one save and a 1.59 ERA in seven appearances with Milwaukee this year. He was 5-1 with four saves and a 2.27 ERA in 38 relief outings with Triple-A Nashville.
Zastryzny, 32, was 1-0 with a 1.17 ERA in nine appearances with Milwaukee. He pitched in 30 games with Nashville and went 4-0 with a 3.03 ERA.
The 29-year-old Bauers batted .199 with a .301 on-base percentage, 12 homers and 43 RBIs in 116 games this season. He also hit a seventh-inning homer that broke a scoreless tie in the decisive Game 3 of the Wild Card Series with the Mets, who rallied in the ninth to win 4-2.
Wilson, who turns 27 on Dec. 20, went 5-4 with a 4.04 ERA in 34 appearances, including nine starts.
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