C2 Friday, May 24, 2024 Omaha World-Herald SPORTS mark the beginning of a new era in this fall after the other 10 schools college sports where athletes are leave. compensated more like pros and schools can compete for talent Paying using direct payments. no question about it. model, each school will be permit- a huge quantum said ted but not required to set aside up Tom McMillen, the former Mary- to $21 million in revenue to share land basketball player and con- with athletes per year, though as gressman who has led an associa- revenues rise so could the cap. tion of collegiate athletic directors the past eight years.
The details in the plan signal would be given the freedom to the end of the bedrock decide how that money is divvied amateurism model that dates to among sports programs. Schol- its founding in 1906. Indeed, the arship limits by sport will be re- days of NCAA punishments for placed by roster restrictions. athletes driving booster-provided cars started vanishing three years tion model is subject to the Title ago when the organization lifted IX gender equity law is unknown restrictions on endorsem*nt deals along with whether schools will backed by name, image and like- be able to bring NIL activities in- ness money. Now it is not far-fetched to out the booster-run collectives look ahead to seasons where a star that have sprouted up in the last quarterback or top prospect on the few years to pay athletes.
Both basketball team is not only cashing topics could lead to more lawsuits. in big-money NIL deals but has a $100,000 school payment to play. The There are a host of details still to be determined, but the agreement at the center of the settlement, calls for the NCAA and the confer- House v. the NCAA, was set to go ences to pay $2.77 billion over 10 to trial in January. The complaint, years to more than 14,000 former brought by former Arizona State and current college athletes who swimmer Grant House and Sedona say now-defunct rules prevented Prince, a former Oregon and cur- them from earning money from rent TCU basketball player, said endorsem*nt and sponsorship the NCAA along with the five deals dating to 2016.
though it was only be- erly barred athletes from earning cause of the overwhelming legal endorsem*nt money. pressure, the NCAA, conferences and schools are agreeing that col- athletes were entitled to a piece of lege athletes should be said the billions of dollars the NCAA Ramogi Huma, a former UCLA and those conferences earn from football player and longtime ad- media rights agreements with vocate for college athletes. television networks. no going back from there. truly Some of the money will come another court loss that some in from NCAA reserve funds and college sports claimed could reach insurance but even though the $20 billion in damages, NCAA and lawsuit specifically targeted five conference officials conceded on conferences that are comprised what has long been a core princi- of 69 schools (including Notre pal of the enterprise: That schools Dame), dozens of other NCAA directly pay the athletes to member schools will see smaller play beyond a scholarship.
distributions from the NCAA to cover the payout. Schools in the Big Ten, Big 12, decade. ACC and SEC will end up bear- ing the brunt of the settlement unanimously ruled against the at a cost of about $300 million NCAA in 2021 in a case related to each over 10 years, the majority education-related benefits. of which will be paid to athletes going forward. The Pac-12 is also part of the sports system, but the strong re- settlement, with all 12 sharing responsibility even though Wash- ington State and Oregon State will be the only league members left by In the new compensation Athletes in all sports would be eligible for payments and schools Whether the new compensa- house as they hope and squeeze The class-action federal lawsuit wealthiest conferences improp- The suit also made the case that Amid political and public pres- sure, and facing the prospect of That principle had already been dented numerous times the last Notably, the Supreme Court The narrow focus of the Alston case collapse the collegiate buke of the model of am- ateurism flung the door open to more lawsuits.
Justice Brett Ka- vanaugh, a former Yale athlete, put it: bottom line is that the NCAA and its member colleges are suppressing the pay of student athletes who collectively generate billions of dollars in revenues for colleges every Other The settlement is expected to cover two other antitrust cases facing the NCAA and major con- ferences that challenge athlete compensation rules. Hubbard vs. the NCAA and Carter vs. the NCAA are also currently in front of judges in the Northern District of California. A fourth case, Fontenot vs.
NCAA, creates a potential com- plication as it remains in a Colo- rado court after a judge denied a request to combine it with Carter. Whether Fontenot becomes part of the settlement is unknown and it matters because the NCAA and its conferences want to be on the hook for more damages should they lose in court. going to continue to litigate our case in Colorado and look forward to hearing about the terms of a settlement proposal once actually released and put in front of a said George Zelcs, a attorney in Fontenot. Athletics The solution agreed to in the settlement is landmark, but not surprising. College sports has been trend- ing in this direction, with athletes receiving more and more mone- tary benefits and rights they say were long overdue.
In December, Baker, the former Massachusetts governor who has been on the job for 14 months, proposed creating a new tier of Division I athletics where the schools with the most resources would be required to pay at least half their athletes $30,000 per year. That suggestion, along with many other possibilities, remain under discussion. The settlement does not make every issue facing college sports go away. There is still a ques- tion of whether athletes should be deemed employees of their schools, something Baker and other college sports leaders are fighting against. Some type of federal legislation or antitrust exemption is likely still needed to codify the terms of the settlement, protect the NCAA from future litigation and pre- empt state laws that attempt to neuter the author- ity.
As it is, the NCAA is still facing lawsuits that challenge its ability to govern itself, including set- ting rules limiting multiple-time transfers. Federal lawmakers have indi- cated they would like to get some- thing done, but while several bills have been introduced none have gone anywhere. Despite the unanswered ques- tions, one thing is clear: Major college athletics is about to be- come more like professional sports than ever before. Some Who gets paid now? Under the settlement, $2.77 billion in damages will be paid over 10 years for approximately 14,000 claims dating to 2016. Determining how much each athlete gets is a question that will take months to figure out and in- volve attorneys, the judge and a formula assessing what they are owed.
Who gets paid later? The Big Ten, Big 12, ACC and SEC will be making the largest invest- ment going forward because the settlement includes a proposed revenue-sharing system that will allow schools to commit up to $21 million per year to be paid directly to athletes. The overall commit- ment, including damages, is ex- pected to be about $300 million per school (there are 69 in all) over 10 years. How that will work is a major question that will take time for schools and conferences to work out. NCAA rules will likely need to be re-written. Schools do not have to make the financial com- mitment, but not doing so could result in a competitive disadvan- tage.
Rosters vs. scholarships: One change that could have the most noticeable impact on the field is a switch from the tradi- tional scholarship limits to using roster size to determine how many athletes a school can have for a particular sport. That could allow the wealthiest schools to provide financial ben- efits to even more athletes than they already do, trying to gain a competitive advantage. It could also push schools to be more de- liberate in deciding how much to invest in certain sports. Athletic Director Kara Graham, who chairs the Nebraska School are probably the best night but Activities Association.
nights have been high play it on Friday, we have school football games since I can remember and certainly have a better going to put a little strain on families and on attendance at ei- to Thursday night will be made ther high school games or those this summer. There could be a people who really want to go to Nebraska football games. definitely a strain to start conflicts and an issue as complicating that Bellevue West coach Mike Huffman and Omaha Westside Athletic Director Tom Kerkman High School Associations, in get it, too. like it either. Sept.
20 is when Westside hosts Bellevue West. like the A.D. (Troy Dan- nen) said yesterday, man when cashing checks that big you kind of got to do what you got to Huffman said. not a fan of it, and a big Husker Kerkman said. are a lot of our parents and community members.
It really puts us in a bind on what to do. you want to do best for your kids in your football program. Friday nights you have to have the crowd. If we the crowd. We play Thursday, A decision on a possible move lot of Thursday games across the state if referees have their ranks already are shrinking.
been 60 years since the National Federation of State conjunction with the NCAA, repelled the NFL from televising games Friday nights. The colleges have long forgot- ten that alliance. How quickly the Big Ten and SEC would file suit if the NFL expanded to Sat- urdays. schools should not have to compete with colleges for that revered and time-honored space of Friday said Dr. Karissa L.
Niehoff, the NFHS chief exec- utive officer. the past, some high schools have had to move games to earlier in the day or to other days of the week to ac- commodate conflicts with col- leges playing on Friday nights. This should never be the case. of flooding every day of the week with college foot- ball games, we urge the major conferences and TV networks to leave Friday nights alone, because in the fall, those nights should be spent in the stands, not on the A great last line. Kerkman threw out a big what-if, too.
Suppose Nebraska tries to make amends with its feeder program the high schools and opens Memorial Stadium on the now-open Saturday for Bel- levue West-Westside. Lincoln East-Lincoln Southeast, a big gate game in Lincoln. Others. My observation was that the NSAA has been reticent in al- lowing high school regular-sea- son or early-round playoff games at Memorial. The couple times in the past 30 years were in the aftermath of ice and snow storms.
this is like a Kerkman said. Petito A large turnout is expected June 1 for a tribute to Fred Pe- 41 years as Millard North football coach and those of longtime assistant Mark Chavez. Both retired from the Millard schools. The 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
BBQ meal at Love Church, 20120 Blue Sage Parkway where former Mustang quarterback Todd Dox- zon is a pastor is for players, coaches, staff, family and close friends. Reservations are re- quested and can be made at facebook.com/events/s/ celebrating-41-years-of- stu.pospisil@owh.com, twitter. BASEBALL Homers power Nick grand slam was part of a six-run seventh inning for the Storm Chasers, who ral- lied for a 10-3 win over Colum- bus on Thursday night at Wer- ner Park. The Chasers (29-15), who also rallied in the late innings to win Wednesday, were down 3-0 in the fifth before hitting four hom- ers in the last four innings. Down 3-2 with one out in the seventh, three straight singles loaded the bases before Loftin launched his slam.
Four batters later, Nate Eaton added a two- run homer. Fitzgerald capped ho- mer barrage with a two-run shot to left in the eighth to finish his 3-for-3 night. Fitzgerald, the for- mer Creighton infielder, has five homers in his past eight games. Chandler Champlain, called up to make his Triple-A debut Thursday, went the first six in- nings. The teams continue their se- ries at 6:35 p.m.
Friday. Columbus (19-28) 200 100 3 5 0 At Omaha (29-15) 000 011 14 0 Selby, 1-1. Arias, 0-1. 2B: Loftin, Gentry. HR: Brito (8).
Porter (5), Loftin (4), Eaton (5), Fitzgerald (6). GOLF Officer disciplined in Scheffler LOUISVILLE, Ky. Authori- ties say the Kentucky police of- ficer who arrested top-ranked golfer Scottie Scheffler out- side the PGA Championship is receiving for not having his body-worn camera activated when he ap- proached the vehicle and was allegedly dragged to the ground. Louisville police said Thurs- day that they have footage of the initial interaction Friday between Scheffler and Louisville Detective Bryan Gillis outside Valhalla Golf Club. The golfer was arrested on charges that he injured Gillis and disobeyed commands, but Scheffler has called the incident a misunder- standing.
Officials elabo- rate on what has been taken against Gillis for not having his bodycam turned on. Hoffman leads FORT WORTH, Texas Scheffler failed to break par in the opening round for the first time this year Thursday on a tough afternoon of blustery conditions and a new feel at renovated Colonial that seemed to befuddle just about everyone but Charley Hoffman in the Schwab Challenge. Hoffman posted a 5-under 65 for a one-shot lead over five play- ers who all had a big advantage of playing in the morning. Hoffman had to deal with wind that gusted in the 20 mph range, putting a premium on shots into greens that were particularly firm from being so new. 2-over 72 Thurs- day was the second time in his last three rounds he was over par.
Before that, he had played 41 consecutive rounds at par or better. Scheffler alone in his struggles. Only 45 players from the 132-man field broke par, a stark contrast from the record scoring last week at the PGA Championship. Max Homa failed to make a birdie and posted a 78, his highest score at a non-major since the Memorial four years ago. TRACK AND FIELD 7 Huskers nab FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.
Ne- braska earned seven bids to the NCAA outdoor championships at West Preliminary Round. The Huskers earned four bids in javelin, led by Rhema second-place finish at 186 feet, 10 inches. Mirta Kulisic was eighth (174-5), Eniko Sara ninth (172-10) and Emanuela Casadei 12th (165-5). Hillevi Carlsson earned her first champi- onship appearance, going 206-1 on her final hammer throw to fin- ish seventh. Axelina Johansson, the reign- ing outdoor shot put champion, will defend her title after finish- ing fourth at Velincia Williams went in the long jump, good for ninth, to qualify.
Johanna Ilves qualified in the 100 hurdles with a per- sonal-best 13.25. The Husker men earned three bids Wednesday: Kevin Shubert in the shot put first and a personal best), and Dash Si- mon (244-5, fourth) and Tyler Brown (229-11, eighth) in the javelin. BRIEFLY Pospisil From C1 NCAA From C1 ANNA REED, THE Bellevue West coach Mike Huffman and other high school administrators get why Nebraska will play a game on a Friday night. But not their favorite idea..
