A Tumultuous Journey to the Payout Line
The class action suit—House v. NCAA—was filed in 2020 and named the NCAA and the Power Five conferences (SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, and Pac-12) as defendants. It was the culmination of a years-long storm following the Supreme Court’s 2021 ruling in NCAA v. Alston, which struck down the NCAA’s education-related compensation limits and opened the floodgates for antitrust challenges.
That ruling kicked off a domino effect: states passed NIL laws, athletes sued, and the once-untouchable amateur model collapsed under legal scrutiny.
Baker: From Chaos to Clarity
NCAA President Charlie Baker hailed the court’s ruling as a defining moment. “Many viewed the House hearing in April as an ending,” he said. “But this is actually a new beginning—a framework to stabilize college sports after years of chaos.”
He emphasized that the agreement not only provides direct financial benefits but also sets the foundation for clear, enforceable NIL rules in a space long governed by confusion.
