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As college sports move toward pay-for-play, Title IX looms as another hurdle for the NCAA

JIMMY GOLEN AP Sports Writer

A court settlement that would require colleges to pay first-time athletes billions of dollars for their games won’t resolve the debate over amateurism in NCAA sports.

Many schools have said most of the up to $20.5 million they will pay their athletes as part of the $2.8 billion House deal will go to football and men’s basketball players. But this week’s guidance from the U.S. Department of Education said the payments could run afoul of Title IX requirements for equal treatment of genders.

Here’s a look at the latest legal hurdles facing schools trying to navigate the collapsing model of amateur sports and the professional leagues they don’t want to be in.

How did we get here?

For decades, the NCAA has insisted that “student-athletes” participate in extracurricular activities, such as being a member of the glee club or the school newspaper. The governing body has long said that instead of paying players, colleges should use money from revenue-generating sports like football and basketball to fund other teams that don’t draw as large crowds, including the Olympic sports that make up the bulk of women’s programs. .

But the reality of modern college sports, where football factories are fueled by billion-dollar TV contracts and the transfer portal has made education an afterthought, now bears little resemblance to the 19th-century ideal of athletes finding time to train between classes.

Recent court decisions have eroded the amateur model; specifically the 2021 Supreme Court ruling that the NCAA limited certain benefits to Division I basketball and football players and violated antitrust laws.

“I love everything the players get. “It was long overdue,” said UConn coach Dan Hurley, whose team won back-to-back men’s basketball championships. “But our sport needs a lot of structure. “This is a circus.”

The NCAA lobbied for legislation that would exempt it from antitrust scrutiny. Despite some bipartisan progress, Congress has yet to deliver anything.

“I don’t know what the environment is going to look like,” said UConn women’s coach Geno Auriemma, whose program has won 11 NCAA championships. “But it won’t look like it does now.”

Why is this becoming a problem now?

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibited “discrimination based on sex” in schools receiving federal funding. The law says schools at all levels must provide equal opportunities for men and women, including (but not limited to) athletics. Since the enactment of Title IX, the number of women playing collegiate sports has increased more than sevenfold.

This week, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights issued a “fact sheet” reminding schools that Title IX’s promise of equal opportunity would apply to the House agreement allowing schools to pay players. (The agreement has not yet received final approval from U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken.)

Will the decision jeopardize the compromise?

Although the news reached him on Thursday, NCAA President Charlie Baker doesn’t think so.

He said the settlement mostly covers the distribution of $2.8 billion in damages awarded to former players, but also clarifies terminology around third-party payments and some other issues. But he said how and whether schools allocate the $20.5 million they are allowed to pay players in the future could face Title IX scrutiny down the line.

“The layout itself is pretty well defined,” Baker said. “Since this is a campus-based thing, each school needs to figure out what their policies and procedures are.”

But Erin Buzuvis, a law professor at Western New England University who studies Title IX, said schools could remain vulnerable to lawsuits from female athletes if they pursue plans to distribute most of the damages to football and men’s basketball players. is not treated fairly.

What about third-party payments for name, image and likeness?

The Civil Rights Administration’s nine-page memo states that schools cannot avoid Title IX responsibilities if they have any involvement in NIL funding.

Although NIL information is not publicly available, under the current system, quarterbacks and star basketball players at top football schools reportedly earn millions from individual promoters or groups pooling their funds collectively. Schools do not have to be involved in arranging finances, but they can advise athletes and provide other support during the deal-making process.

If they do this for men, they should do it for women too.

“NIL happened extremely quickly,” UConn women’s star Paige Bueckers said. “I went from zero to 100: You couldn’t do anything, then you could do almost anything. So it definitely happened quickly, but it’s important to have the right people around you.”

The House deal would eliminate the middleman in many NIL arrangements and allow schools to pay athletes directly. But the government’s guidance says the money will be considered the same as financial aid and therefore subject to Title IX review: If schools decide to give the bulk of the funds to boys, that will cause problems.

So it’s been resolved?

Not even remotely.

It’s no coincidence that the guidance was released this week, in the final days of Joe Biden’s presidency.

“It is definitely the deadline to tie up the unfinished business that is on the current administration’s to-do list,” Buzuvis said. “Title IX advocates have long been pushing for greater clarity. “This was the last chance to make it happen, and they did it.”

But he also said that policies that were rushed before the change of administration could be reversed once President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

“If they are easy to create, they are easy to withdraw. “It’s possible the Trump administration could take that away,” Buzuvis said. “But even if the guidance is withdrawn, that logic doesn’t go away.”

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AP National Writer Eddie Pells contributed to this story from Nashville, Tennessee, and AP freelancer Jim Fuller contributed from Storrs, Connecticut.

Associated Press contributed to this article