Why thousands of NCAA athletes might wait over a year for share of $2.8 billion settlement

The attorney who negotiated the $2.8 billion legal settlement for the NCAA said Friday that thousands of former athletes due to receive damages could have to wait months or maybe more than a year to get paid while appeals play out.

Rakesh Kilaru, who served as the NCAA’s lead counsel for the House settlement that was approved last week, told The Associated Press an appeal on Title IX grounds filed this week will hold up payments due to around 390,000 athletes who signed on to the class-action settlement.

He said he has seen appeals take up to 18 months in the California-based federal court where this case is playing out, though that isn’t necessarily what he expects.

“I will say that we, and I’m sure the plaintiffs, are going to push,” Kilaru said.

A schedule filed this week calls for briefs related to the appeal to be filed by Oct. 3. Kilaru doesn’t expect anyone on the defendant or plaintiff side to file for extensions in the case “because every day the appeal goes on is a day damages don’t go to the student-athletes.”

He said while the appeal is ongoing, the NCAA will pay the money into a fund that will be ready to go when needed.

The other critical parts of the settlement — the part that allows each school to share up to $20.5 million in revenue with current players and set up an enforcement arm to regulate it — are in effect regardless of appeals.

“I think everyone thought it was important and good for this new structure to start working because it does have a lot of benefits for students,” Kilaru said. “But it’s very common for damages to be delayed in this way for the simple reason that you don’t want to make payments to people that you can’t recover” if the appeal is successful.

A group of eight female athletes filed the appeal. Their attorney, Ashlyn Hare, said they supported 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.

Kilaru agreed with plaintiff attorneys who have argued that Title IX violations are outside the scope of the lawsuit.

Other objections to the settlement came from athletes who said they were damaged by roster limits set by the terms. One attorney representing a group of those objectors, Steven Molo, said they were reviewing Wilken’s decision and exploring options.