NCAA, College Sports Commission resist attempts to 'rewrite' House Settlement

Filing its formal response in U. S. Northern District Court of California to the April 20 motion from plaintiffs in the latest chapter of the House Settlement, the NCAA on Monday, May 4, outlined in its response why it believes disputes over approval of name, image and likeness deals by the College Sports Commission (CSC) should be handled by third-party arbitrators and not in the courts.

The latest salvo in the House settlement is in response from the filing last month from plaintiffs attorneys Steve Berman and Jeffrey Kessler that comes on the heels of a dispute between the CSC and 18 University of Nebraska football players, that seeks to declare NIL deals between student-athletes and institutions’ multi-media rightsholders (MMRs) separate from the monies those institutions distribute per terms of the House Settlement’s “revenue-sharing” agreement. “Class Counsel’s motion seeks to rewrite the (House) Settlement, not enforce it,” attorneys for the defendant NCAA said in their Monday filing. “The question of how to regulate NIL transactions is at the heart of the Settlement Agreement in this case.

“The parties agreed that it would be a positive development for student-athletes if, as Class Counsel put it, ‘true third-party NIL’ were permitted for the length of the injunctive relief term. “But the parties also agreed that it would undermine the transformative Benefits Pool structure established by the Settlement, and the competitive balance it sought to create if student-athletes could receive payments by the affiliated parties that are characterized as NIL but, in reality, are just pay-for-play compensation from a third party. ” The NCAA also included in its formal response filed late Monday a strongly worded declaration of support for the defendants from Bryan Seeley, the CSC’s chief executive officer.

The document from Seeley also suggested that schools have “manufactured NIL deals” as a method of both recruiting and retaining student-athletes. USA TODAY Sports obtained the NCAA's filing and Seeley’s declaration. “While Class Counsel’s letter implies that MMRs are incapable of acting as Associated Entities, my team’s experience suggests otherwise,” per Seeley’s declaration.