An attorney for the athletes stated that the settlement goes against Title IX, a federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in education.
On Wednesday, eight female athletes challenged a historic NCAA antitrust settlement, claiming that it unfairly allocates $2.7 billion in back pay, preventing women from getting their rightful share for being previously unable to profit from their name, image, and likeness.
Last week, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken approved the settlement, allowing universities to directly compensate athletes and dismantling the NCAA’s amateurism framework.
The athletes who appealed the settlement competed in soccer, volleyball and track. They are: Kacie Breeding of Vanderbilt; Lexi Drumm, Emma Appleman, Emmie Wannemacher, Riley Hass, Savannah Baron and Elizabeth Arnold of the College of Charleston; and Kate Johnson of Virginia. They have standing to appeal because they previously filed objections to the proposed settlement.
Ashlyn Hare, one of the attorneys representing the athletes, said in a statement that the settlement violates Title IX, the federal law that bans sex-based discrimination in education.
“We support a settlement of the case, but not an inaccurate one that violates federal law. The calculation of past damages is based on an error that ignores Title IX and deprives female athletes of $1.1 billion,” Hare said. “Paying out the money as proposed would be a massive error that would cause irreparable harm to women’s sports.”
The House settlement figures to financially benefit football and basketball stars at the biggest schools, who are likely to receive a big chunk of the $20.5 million per year that colleges are permitted to share with athletes over the next year. Some athletes in other sports that don’t make money for their schools could lose their partial scholarships or see their roster spots cut.
“This is a football and basketball damages settlement with no real benefit to female athletes,” Hare said. “Congress has expressly rejected efforts to exempt revenue-generating sports like football and basketball from Title IX’s antidiscrimination mandate. The NCAA agreed with us. Our argument on appeal is the exact same argument the conferences and NCAA made prior to settling the case.”
The appeal was filed by the law firm Hutchinson Black and Cook of Boulder, Colorado, and was first reported by Front Office Sports. It would be heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
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