The NCAA on Thursday announced plans to conduct both the Division II and Division III men’s basketball championship games and the semifinals and final of the National Invitational Tournament in Indianapolis, in conjunction with the Division I men’s Final Four.
The plan is intended to settle a host of federal antitrust claims and also clears the way for schools to share revenue with athletes, a dramatic step that all but ends the NCAA’s longstanding amateurism model.
Any penalties currently being served by student-athletes who previously tested positive for cannabinoids will be discontinued.
Many Division I schools expect their athletic budgets to be stressed by the House v. NCAA settlement, which would require back damages of $2.77 billion to be paid over 10 years to athletes.
The plan, which still needs approval from plaintiffs and a federal judge, calls for paying damages to thousands of former and current college athletes who say now-defunct NCAA rules prevented them from earning endorsement money.
The settlement could resolve three major antitrust lawsuits against the NCAA that carry the threat of some $20 billion in damages, a blow that would cripple the organization. The settlement includes dramatic changes to the NCAA’s amateur sports model.
The class-action lawsuit seeks back pay for college athletes who were denied name, image and likeness compensation dating to 2016.
A deadline looms next week for the NCAA and major conferences to agree to a deal that could cost billions in damages and set up a groundbreaking revenue-sharing system with college athletes.
The Protect The Ball Act is intended to provide legal safe harbor for the entities that run college sport, which has been under siege from antitrust lawsuits.
A settlement being discussed in an antitrust lawsuit against the Indianapolis-based NCAA and major college conferences could cost billions and pave the way for a compensation model for college athletes.
The Indianapolis-based NCAA fast-tracked rule changes to fall in line with a recent court order.
The NCAA announced Thursday the proposal would define “exemplary cooperation” more clearly while establishing its impact on possible penalties.
The Sunday afternoon game on ABC and ESPN featuring Caitlin Clark outdrew Monday’s men’s final between the University of Connecticut and Purdue University by more than four million viewers.
The entire season was a watershed for the women’s game just two years after the NCAA tournament drew headlines for the disparities in the facilities between the men’s tournament and the women’s.
Purdue big man Zach Edey has been an unstoppable force for two seasons. Edey’s size—7-foot-4, 300 pounds—usually forces teams to double him in the post. But UConn has 7-2, 280-pound Donovan Clingan in the middle.
Clark—who is expected to be the No. 1 pick in this month’s WNBA draft, where the Indiana Fever have the No. 1 pick—finished her four-year college career with 3,951 points, an NCAA record for both men and women.
N.C. State poked and jabbed at the 7-foot-4 Edey and gave him fits over his 40 minutes on the floor, but he still dominated the battle of big men against 6-9, 275-pound Wolfpack forward DJ Burns Jr.
It seems appropriate the Boilermakers would be playing in the final game on the same day as a total solar eclipse, given the rarity of both events.
Despite a ton of progress—schools still get zero dollars for their women’s basketball teams participating and advancing in the NCAA Tournament.
The higher price for the women’s games is partly due to the ticket supply for the men’s games being greater, a Logitix spokesman said. He added that demand for women’s tickets is unprecedented and driven by fanfare for the University of Iowa’s Caitlin Clark.
