The Atlantic Coast Conference will be working alongside the Big 12 in House v. NCAA, and it will vote to settle that case in addition to other antitrust cases related to it, ESPN reported Tuesday.
A settlement is expected to pass, which would create a framework that would allow schools to give millions of dollars to athletes in the future. Former athletes who couldn’t sign Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals would also have access to a fund of over $2.7 billion.
There will be four more votes this week, with three coming from Power Five conferences and the other coming from the NCAA board of governors.
Presidents of ACC schools voted in-person in Charlotte on Tuesday, the same day that presidents and chancellors of Big 12 universities met virtually to vote. Texas and Oklahoma, the departing members of the Big 12, stayed away from that vote, which resulted in unanimous approval.
ESPN’s report indicated that conferences are putting forth little resistance to the settlement, and the NCAA is also in the same boat.
The Pac-12 will be voting as a 12-team conference, the way it was when the House v. NCAA case was filed.
As part of the settlement, the NCAA would have to pay over $2.7 billion in back damages over a decade. About $1.6 billion of that won’t be given to the schools.
Schools are trying to settle to avoid things spiraling further out of control in the future, something that legal experts foresee happening because of the NCAA’s poor track record in court cases, per ESPN’s report.
–Field Level Media
