Charlie Baker seeks ‘clarity’ for college sports amid settlement talks

AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — NCAA president Charlie Baker said Monday that he wouldn’t put a hard deadline on the organization’s decision to accept or reject a proposed settlement in House v. NCAA, a landmark lawsuit that is expected to fundamentally reshape the college sports business model.

With the caveat that settlement talks continue and could evolve, it appears likely that an agreement would include roughly $3 billion (over 10 years) in back-pay damages from the NCAA to Division I athletes who were not allowed to monetize their names, images and likenesses (NIL) prior to July 2021, as well as a new revenue sharing model with power-conference athletes that would begin as early as 2025. The Big Ten, SEC, ACC and Big 12 are also named defendants in this lawsuit.

As first reported by ESPN and confirmed by The Athletic, the amount of money to be shared with athletes annually by each school that chooses to opt into the revenue-sharing model is expected to be roughly $20 million. Lingering questions remain about compliance with Title IX and the ability to set up such a system without a collective bargaining agreement, but that is the general framework under which those on both sides of the lawsuit are working.

“There are a lot of meetings going on,” Baker said. “But my view on it is that the most important thing for us and for the folks in the (Power) 4 and (Power) 5 and the folks on the plaintiff side is to create clarity on what the terms are going to look like. That’s been our focus. I’m not putting a deadline on it.”

Though Baker wouldn’t put a hard deadline on it, the four power conferences could vote on a proposed settlement later this month. The earliest that athletes would potentially get a cut of their leagues’ revenue is the summer of 2025, sources briefed on settlement talks said.

Baker said he came to the ACC’s spring meetings in Florida at commissioner Jim Phillips’ request and because “obviously, there’s a lot to talk about in college sports these days.” Asked specifically how much of the nearly two hours he spent with ACC coaches and administrators was spent on the potential settlement, Baker said it was “a relatively limited piece of it.”

“The most important part about the settlement — and let’s face it, there’s still a lot of work to be done there — the most important part of it is it creates some clarity and some visibility on a whole bunch of issues that have sort of been roiling everybody for a while,” Baker said. “The other thing it does is create predictability and stability for schools. It creates a tremendous opportunity for student-athletes, especially at the schools that are most heavily researched.

“And it creates a framework that then makes it possible to then have a different kind of conversation with Congress. So, in many ways, I’m hopeful.”

The NCAA would also prefer that any settlement to the House case would also resolve other active antitrust litigation against the NCAA, including the Hubbard and Carter cases. As Baker alluded, there is also hope that the NCAA’s willingness to change its business model to allow revenue sharing with athletes can lead to antitrust protection from Congress, which could allow the enterprise a way forward without making athletes employees.

“Look, I think everyone would like … to be positioned where they feel like they could plan, and in the current world we live in, planning is very hard to do,” Baker said. “The best part about being able to plan is when you plan, you can invest. You can invest in your students, you can invest in your athletes, you can invest in your program, you can invest in your future and have some idea of what the ground is going to be like underneath you. …

“If we can land this thing, I think it gives a tremendous amount of benefits to student-athletes at the highest-resourced programs. I think it creates a lot of stability and clarity for schools. And it makes it possible for all of us to start thinking about what the next act will look like as it rolls out instead of feeling like you’re waiting for the next shoe to drop.”

— The Athletic’s Justin Williams contributed reporting.

(Photo: Kirby Lee / USA Today)