The end of amateurism. Ol' Jeff Kessler's finally going to put a stake in the heart of the NCAA, it seems, with his latest lawsuit. This one is seeking vast amounts of damages for players who were denied their NIL opportunities. The prospect of a four billion dollar judgment has finally caused the administrator class to throw in the towel. Details are still scanty, but the general shape of it:
With the settlement expected to cost billions in back pay for former athletes, it would likely also require the NCAA and conferences to agree to a system for sharing more revenue with some of the players moving forward.
Sources indicated the top-end revenue share number per school -- once it's determined -- would be in the neighborhood of $20 million annually, although that's yet to be settled. Whatever number is set by the settlement, individual schools will be able to opt in to share revenue up to that number with their student athletes at their discretion.
This is being portrayed as "revenue sharing," as the NCAA hopes to dodge the fact that their athletes are employees. That might also let them dance around Title IX issues that will arise once football and men's basketball players are raking in money that few female athletes are.
As far as the local angle: the faster athletic departments are directly paying players the better. Michigan obviously has the capability to hit the max here, and I can't imagine that anyone has any illusions about the fact that they'll have to. I have no doubt that schools will continue to bring in outside money in an effort to win, and that Michigan won't be on the Kentucky/Memphis/OSU level there, but choosing between 200k and 250k is a lot different than nothing and 50k; the relative gaps will be smaller.
Speaking of NIL. Champions Circle has various autographed objects up for auction to support their NIL objectives:
Check it out as long as you do not bid on the thing I bid on.
[After THE JUMP: basketball speculation CONTINUES]
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