In the end, it always comes down to lawyers.
In a conference room somewhere in the Dallas area last week, the power conference commissioners, their general counsels, NCAA president Charlie Baker, the NCAA's top lawyers, and plaintiffs attorneys met to negotiate a framework that would see major colleges provide direct compensation to their athletes, according to a report Monday from ESPN.
The discussions were forced by the ongoing House v. NCAA lawsuit, which could see the NCAA and its member schools pay out a $4 billion settlement in back pay to former athletes who were barred from participating in NIL deals, which came about in 2021.
Hard details are scarce at this time. The key thing to know at this point is that the top end revenue sharing figure is expected to be in the $20 million range. Schools could pay their athletes less than that figure, but not more. In December, Baker proposed creating a new subdivision of schools who opted in to pay their athletes up to $30,000 a year.
Many key questions remain: Would athletes be designated as employees? How does this work with Title IX? What's to stop the next round of plaintiffs' attorneys from challenging a $20 million "salary cap"? Would schools buy their athletes' NIL rights, or would they be free to accept endorsements outside of what their schools provided?
There's a lot still to be decided, but the main thing the Powers That Be want us to know is that they're talking, and the distant future of college sports is closer than we think.