After dramatic conference realignment, 70+ power schools set to enter membership agreement before rev-share gets enforced

The era of aggressive conference realignment in college sports has collided with the House vs. NCAA settlement, which mandated revenue sharing between student-athletes and the programs that they represent. Should the matter be approved, it will go into effect on July 1.

With the dawn of the new College Sports Commission tasked with dealing with the arising issues in college sports, a report by Yahoo Sports analyst Ross Dellenger on Tuesday revealed that the power conferences, including the Big Ten, SEC, ACC and Big 12, are banding together to protect themselves from future lawsuits in uncertain times.

According to the report, after the conference realignment that has shaken up college sports, over 70 schools in the power conferences have come up with a draft that will stop programs from using state laws to circumvent the rules. It will demand that schools waive their rights to pursue legislation against the College Sports Commission in case of future disputes.

In the draft, the ironclad agreed-upon policies would supersede contradictory state law and shield the CSC from lawsuits by member schools, and it would instead champion arbitration.

Conference realignment will not shield schools from proposed draft

According to the Yahoo Sports report, the draft, which emerged after the spate of conference realignment and expansion moves by power conference schools, has been distributed to athletic directors and presidents of several programs.

While the draft is not final, several officials have said the power conferences will attempt to bulldoze schools into signing the waiver as the House vs. NCAA settlement comes into effect.

“You have to sign it,” one athletic director told Yahoo Sports, “or we don’t play you.”

“As a condition of membership, you must comply with the settlement and enforcement,” a power conference president told Yahoo Sports.

The draft would only be signed by schools should California Judge Claudia Wilken approve the House vs. NCAA settlement, but its enforceability would still be murky, according to Tulane sports professor Gabe Feldman.

“Arbitration itself isn’t surprising but saying that you agree not to follow your state law … that may or may not be enforceable,” Feldman told Yahoo Sports. “No matter what the sides do, they’re going to be sued. This is an effort to rein in the lawsuits. It’s just not clear how enforceable all these provisions will be.”

Conference realignment, coinciding with the NIL era, has changed college sports forever. The latest proposed draft to bring order to the sport represents another attempt by the authorities to get a handle on the situation.