He keeps doubling down on this. Pretty amazing.

Many believed approval of the proposed House settlement was a slam dunk. That’s clearly not the case. Judge Wilken told the parties she won’t grant preliminary approval under the current terms. She has issues with terms regulating collectives & with binding future athletes.

She tells the parties to make changes to the settlement agreement on those points. And to then seek preliminary approval again. She says they should consider talking to the mediator again as well. So there is currently no settlement. Litigation could continue.

If the settlement can’t regulate collectives as planned, and if it can’t bind future athletes for 10 years, will the NCAA agree to settle? Big questions. Seems like the NCAA attorney says no.

A great summary of today’s House settlement preliminary approval hearing. In short, there won’t be approval without changes to the settlement terms. And the NCAA’s attorney isn’t sure his client will agree to changes on the items identified. So there’s currently no deal.

As detailed here, Judge Wilken isn’t a fan of a number of parts of the House settlement that are important to the NCAA. We’ll see if the NCAA is willing to bend on restricting/regulating deals with NIL collectives, and its continuing resistance to “pay for play.”

I was also amazed that no one brought up the Tennessee/Virginia v NCAA case where the NCAA’s “NIL recruiting rules” are enjoined. NCAA counsel has to know about it. He acted like it never happened. House settlement has all kinds of antitrust issues.

After today’s hearing on the proposed House settlement, the NCAA has a choice. Revise the settlement agreement so it doesn’t restrict NIL collective deals (among other things). Or continue litigating. Which likely leads to a trial.

At least one university president is ready to go to trial after the proposed House settlement didn’t receive preliminary approval today. And the NCAA still hasn’t gotten the message that it can’t legally prohibit payments to athletes (whether for NIL or athletic performance).

No doubt. The issue isn’t necessarily the attorneys. They’re just doing what they’ve been hired to do. It’s that the NCAA keeps sending them out there to make those arguments.

Great summary of one issue Judge Wilken has with the proposed House settlement. Schools want to pay athletes for playing sports, but want to restrict third parties from doing so. Would help if everyone just admits why athletes are really being paid (athletic performance).

Truth👇

It’s amazing the NCAA thinks it can convince the federal judge who ruled against it in O’Bannon & Alston that schools paying athletes millions of $ a year isn’t “pay for play.” Creates a big credibility issue with the judge.

Another NIL collective now has its logo on a football field. Storrs Central at UConn, NILinParadise at Florida Atlantic, and now 1890 Nebraska at Nebraska. After yesterday’s hearing in the House case, I’d say collective logos are going to be on fields for years to come.

Good commentary on where things are at with the proposed House settlement after yesterday’s hearing. Charlie Winfield with a great point. As noted by Judge Wilken, the settlement terms still have the same antitrust & anti-competitive aspects that brought us to this point.

In an understatement, Charlie Baker tells NCAA membership that yesterday’s hearing in the proposed settlement “did not go as we hoped.” He also says the NCAA is still banking on the Fontenot/Cornelio cases being nullified by a settlement in House.

The Collective Association has issued a statement commending Judge Wilken for not preliminarily approving the House settlement. It encourages “stakeholders in Congress and the media to be leery to both the motives and actions of the NCAA.”

While the college athletics world is focused on the House case, the Brantmeier v NCAA case is still moving along. The case seeks to enjoin NCAA rules prohibiting athletes from accepting prize money for athletic performance. Could be another antitrust loss for the NCAA.

Judge Wilken told the parties in House to go back to the drawing board on proposed settlement terms restricting deals with NIL collectives. But Georgia’s president says “I don’t think it’s back to the drawing board. The settlement is the settlement.” Judge will love that.

Mike Gundy’s not holding back on the NCAA. And he makes legit points.