Charlotte North Among Second Group to Appeal House vs. NCAA Settlement

The premise of both appeals argues that the Settlement failed to properly calculate how the $2.8 billion in back damages should be distributed and that the proposed allocation of those funds violates Title IX—the landmark federal civil rights law which prohibits sex-based discrimination in any education program or activity that receives federal funding.

Attorney Ashlyn Hare of Hutchinson Black and Cook, who represents the first group, estimates that former female student-athletes would be deprived of $1.1 billion if the back damages portion were to be distributed as it currently stands.

“Paying out the money as proposed would be a massive error that would cause irreparable harm to women’s sports,” attorney John Clune told CBS Sports.

Friestedt claims that the Settlement plans to allocate $2.4 billion to former men’s student-athletes in back damages and only $102 million to women.

In percentage terms, the House’s formula for calculating back-damages payments ruled that football and men’s basketball athletes who received full scholarships at Power Five schools from June 15, 2016 to Sept. 15, 2024 will receive 90 percent of the $2.8 billion.

Women’s basketball athletes will receive five percent, and all other athletes—which the two groups who appealed the decision are composed of—will split the remaining five percent.

“This significant disparity constitutes a violation of Title IX,” Friestedt told CBS Sports. “Charlotte, Mai, Katherine and Brooke look forward to the opportunity to appeal this decision with the 9th Circuit on behalf of millions of female student-athletes.”

Judge Claudia Wilken, who approved the Settlement in the Northern District of California, deliberately left the case open for appeals relating to Title IX, and it didn’t take long for groups of former female student-athletes—on behalf of current female student-athletes across the country—to fight back, with North, a former Eagle and current U.S. women’s national team lacrosse player, at the forefront.

It could be only a matter of time before revenue sharing—which is the most significant element of the Settlement and proposes a model which would pay football teams at the majority of power-four conference schools 75 percent or more of their respective federal funds with an initial cap of $20.5 million—becomes challenged, too.

“Additionally, the question of whether Title IX applies to revenue sharing money has been a controversial one,” Shehan Jeyarajah and Marcello wrote. “The Biden Department of Education previously issued guidance that player compensation is subject to Title IX. However, the Trump administration later revoked it after taking office in January.”