NCAA TV revenue class action overview:
- Who: The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Power Five conferences are facing a class action lawsuit over TV contract revenue.
- Why: While TV revenue for schools, conferences and the NCAA has ballooned in recent years, the athletes playing the games do not get any portion of the money from those agreements.
- Where: The NCAA TV revenue class action was filed in federal court in Colorado.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Power Five conferences are facing a class action lawsuit asking them to share the television contract revenue they receive.
The Power Five conferences have signed contracts that will pay them $20 billion to broadcast games on TV, numbers that have increased by roughly 90% in recent years and are expected to continue to grow.
The Big Ten Conference, for example, will get $7 billion over seven years for TV rights for football games and some college basketball games. That means the conference plans to distribute between $80 million to $100 million annually to each of its member schools.
Lawsuit aims to change bylaws preventing NCAA student athletes from getting TV revenue funds, lawsuit says
The NCAA student athletes are asking to change the NCAA bylaws that prevent them from being a beneficiary of the NCAA TV revenue.
“Bylaw 12 prohibits athletes from receiving ‘pay in any form’ for the labor that they provide, no matter how valuable that labor is, and no matter how much the athletes would be paid in an unrestrained market,” the NCAA class action says. “This lawsuit aims to change that.”
A trio of complaints, including a pair of class action lawsuits, were filed in August against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) over claims of discrimination, defamation and an alleged failure to protect athletes.
Do you believe college athletes should receive a portion of TV revenue from schools? Let us know in the comments.
The plaintiff is represented by Sean Grimsley, Eric Olson, Jason Murray and Abigail Hinchcliff of Olson Grimsley Kawanabe Hinchcliff and Murray LLC along with George A. Zelcs, Marc A. Wallenstein, Stephen M. Tillery, Garrett R. Broshuis, Carrol O’Keefe and Christopher M. Burke Korein Tillery LLC.
The NCAA TV revenue class action lawsuit is Fontenot v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, et al., Case No. 1:23-cv-03076, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.
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