NCAA settlement leads to more athlete payouts, new questions

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- ABC11 is diving into the groundbreaking, multi-billion-dollar settlement that paves the way for colleges and universities to pay their student athletes.

That settlement, approved Friday, means college athletes will now effectively earn salaries from their schools -- on top of any potential "name, image and likeness" deals they may have. The $2.8 billion settlement will fundamentally change the collegiate sports landscape, giving schools up to a maximum of $20.5 million to distribute amongst their student-athletes, at their discretion, as part of a revenue-sharing system.

What's not clear is how exactly that money will be divided at our state's biggest schools, and whether it will be distributed in accordance with Title IX protections.

"There will definitely be more Title IX lawsuits in the future," said Barbara Osborne, a law professor at UNC who was hired by the NCAA and major conferences to be their Title IX expert in the recent case, House v. NCAA.

Osborne is as familiar as anyone with House v. NCAA, which she called an antitrust case in which the players involved alleged that schools would share revenue with them already if it weren't for NCAA rules barring them from doing so. Those rules have since been struck down as part of the settlement.

The professor said she believes the money now eligible to be distributed is subject to Title IX.

"The money coming into a program has to be spent in a way that is equitable or provides an equitable experience for the students," she said Monday night.

The maximum amount to be distributed, roughly $20.5 million, is the total amount for a university's men's and women's programs. Multiple sources told ABC11 that the process of dividing it will be at the discretion of the athletics department and athletics director for each school. They also said they believed some of the state's major universities may not believe that the money -- classified as part of a revenue-sharing model -- is tied to Title IX protections. In other words, it's unclear whether they would distribute it proportionally to the number of male and female student athletes they have, per the federal guidelines.

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Osborne said roughly 60% of the nation's student-athletes are male, and 40% female, and hypothetically speaking, any earnings to be shared would need to be split accordingly.

"You can choose to spend that entire 60% on five athletes if you wanted to, as long as you're spending the other 40% on female athletes," she said.

During Monday's trophy celebration at this year's The Soccer Tournament, ABC11 spoke with UNC soccer star Kate Faasse, who has already been able to cash in on NIL earnings before the settlement was finalized. Faasse said she supports more pay for players.

"It's about time," she said. "It's been happening in some sports. But it hasn't always been happening for some women at certain schools. So, it's about time that it starts happening."

Faase said that it's crucial that pay equality remains at the top of the discussion.

"It should never be a question. And I'm just glad that we're getting to equal women's sports, like I said, it's only going to keep going up from here," she said.

ABC11 reached out to Duke, UNC, and NC State on Monday but did not hear back.