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Last week’s $2.75billion antitrust settlement between the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) and college athletes could pave the way for further efforts from athletes to be recognized as employees.
The ruling on the NCAA’s amateur model could earn athletes billions of dollars in damages and eradicate prior rules that banned direct payments from colleges to athletes.
According to the new agreement, which still needs to be approved by the judge presiding over three pending antitrust cases, athletes will now be entitled to direct revenue-sharing, though they are still not recognized as employees.
In the agreement, the NCAA has committed to share 22% of its media contract revenue with the athletes, which according to the legal firm representing the athlete plaintiffs would total “significantly more than $20 million per school, per year.”
The agreement is provisionally designed to prevent further antitrust lawsuits, but legal experts have suggested the ruling weakens the argument that athletes are students rather than employees.
Those who are critical of the NCAA argue it is unlawfully misclassifying athletes. There are currently legal disputes before the National Labor Relations Board and in federal court that are examining whether college athletes should be recognized as employees.
The present status of athletes as students rather than employees means the NCAA is not obligated to comply with federal labor and wage and hour law, and athletes are not entitled to unionization, minimum wages, or other employment rights.
In March, the men’s basketball team at Dartmouth College became the first student-athlete team to unionize, with an NLRB ruling stating they were employees under federal law.
Other cases currently in the courts include a Fair Labor Standards Act case that alleges the NCAA has illegally denied athletes minimum wage, and a case that argues the University of Southern California, the NCAA, and the Pac-12 Conference are joint employers of the university’s basketball and football players.
If both cases are successful, there would be major ramifications for colleges across the US who may well need to begin recognizing their athletes as employees.
Some critics argue the $2.75billion settlement will be the first domino to topple.
“The NCAA and schools have built this wall between employment status and student status for the players,” Anne Marie Lofaso, a labor law professor at West Virginia University and former NLRB attorney, told Bloomberg Law. “I won’t say the wall is down, but it’s extremely weakened.”
However, others have argued the NCAA will continue its staunch defence of how it classifies athletes. “The NCAA and the powers that be, they’re sick of taking losses and I think this is going to be the hill they’re willing to die on,” said Jason Stahl, executive director of the College Football Players Association,
Charlie Baker, NCAA President, has released a joint statement with conference commissioners, describing the agreement as an “important step in the continuing reform of college sports that will provide benefits to student-athletes and provide clarity in college athletics across all divisions for years to come.”
