Big Ten & SEC on The Cusp of History

The two new super conferences of college athletics, the Big Ten, mainly comprised of Mid-Western teams with a few California schools, and the Southeastern Conference, comprised of schools located in that geographic region, are on the verge of history. That history will be the introduction of a revenue-sharing system between schools and players, which is the first type of this system in NCAA history.¹ With the seismic shift in regard to NCAA players being able to earn money through their name image and likeness value over the past few years, this next step seemed inevitable,² yet it is still wholly shocking now that we are on the verge of players earning a profit for the money they generate, especially on the football field.

There has yet to be a plan for how this system will work or where the money will come from, as the landscape of college sports now is very dynamic. However, “ESPN reported Monday night that the Power Four conferences are in ‘deep discussions’ regarding a revenue sharing plan.”³ The reason for these sudden conversations regarding a revenue-sharing plan comes directly from the ongoing antitrust lawsuit House v. NCAA.⁴

The lawsuit involves three former NCAA athletes suing the NCAA in federal court for “backpay for lost NIL revenues, including broadcast, video game, and third-party deals that took place before June 15, 2016, almost five years before the current NIL rules.”⁵ This lawsuit is still ongoing. However, parties on both sides are expected to reach some sort of settlement before the conclusion of the case.⁶ These settlement negotiations have caused the NCAA and its super conferences to scramble, resulting in the real possibility that NCAA athletes will soon be able to be compensated on more than just their NIL value.

This may legitimately be code red for the NCAA, as a revenue system like this would most likely give student-athletes some sort of employment status at the very least, and if this is the case, then they would be in a heap of trouble because having to classify the student-athletes as employees would force the NCAA to provide backpay athletes who are no longer in college.⁷ The amount of this backpay is speculated to be around at least $ 1 Billion due to the new TV contracts, merchandise sales, and upcoming NCAA football video game set to be released this summer.⁸

While the plan for this revenue system is still being determined, what is clear is that college athletics will never be the same again. The change to NIL showed just how vulnerable the NCAA is, and rather than taking measures to be proactively ahead of these issues, the NCAA is reacting tardily to every new problem that has arisen with their flawed system that has exploited student-athletes for over 100 years. The Big Ten and the SEC sharing revenue with their players may be the last straw that broke the camel’s back, which is the NCAA.

1. SEC, Big Ten developing plan to share revenue with players – mlive.com ↩︎
2. NCAA adopts interim name, image and likeness policy – NCAA.org ↩︎
3. SEC, Big Ten developing plan to share revenue with players in potential landmark change to college athletics – CBSSports.com ↩︎
4. Id. ↩︎
5. How House v. NCAA could change the landscape of college sports – Gonzaga Nation (si.com) ↩︎
6. What will happen in House v. NCAA? Answering key questions as college athletics faces monumental change – CBSSports.com ↩︎
7. We Are On The Verge Of A Seismic Shift In College Sports With Revenue Sharing (outkick.com) ↩︎
8. EA Sports College Football 25: Everything you need to know | GamesRadar+ ↩︎