House v. NCAA settlement payments on hold amid legal challenge from female athletes on Title IX grounds

The recently approved House v. NCAA settlement is facing its first challenge, CBS Sports confirms. A collection of women’s sports athletes are planning to appeal the court decision, arguing that the structure of damages payments violates Title IX’s gender equity statute. 

The settlement is set to pay out $2.8 billion in back pay to former athletes, but funds are on hold until the appeals process reaches a conclusion, NCAA lawyer Rakesh Kilaru told CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello. NCAA president Charlie Baker told Yahoo Sports that the organization currently has $285 million ready to distribute once it gets the court’s permission. 

While the appeal will halt damage payments, it should not impact the implementation of revenue sharing, scheduled for July 1.

Eight athletes have signed onto the motion to appeal, at least six of whom were women’s sports athletes at the College of Charleston in recent years. Distance runner Kacie Breeding (Vanderbilt) and volleyball player Kate Johnson (Virginia) are also a part of the lawsuit from power conference institutions. The Charleston athletes include Lexi Drumms, Emma Appleman, Emmie Wannemacher, Riley Hass, Savannah Baron and Elizabeth Arnold. 

“We support a settlement of the case, just not an inaccurate one that violates federal law,” objecting attorney John Clune wrote in a statement to CBS Sports. “The calculation of damages is based on an error to the tune of $1.1 billion. Paying out the money as proposed would be a massive error that would cause irreparable harm to women’s sports.” 

Four more female athletes are in the process of appealing the decision, led by attorney Leigh Ernst Friestedt.

“The House Settlement allocates $2.4 billion to men and only $102 million to women,” Friestedt wrote in a…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/house-v-ncaa-settlement-payments-on-hold-amid-legal-challenge-from-female-athletes-on-title-ix-grounds/

Author : Shehan Jeyarajah

Publish date : 2025-06-11 18:28:00

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