All posts tagged: NCAA

Rutgers: Sued for Keeping Up with the Jones’ 

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On March 31, a class action lawsuit was filed against Rutgers University, led by Rutgers graduate and New Jersey resident, Hector Rodriguez. The complaint alleges that since Rutgers joined the Big Ten Conference in 2014, the University has misappropriated funds by diverting operating revenues from state taxes, tuition, and mandatory student fees to support the failing athletic program. The first charge alleges that the University leadership breached their fiduciary duties by continuing to fund the athletics program despite their knowledge of the magnitude of its losses. The second charge asks for declaratory judgement declaring that the athletics expenditures are unlawful and a waste of public funds.  The lawsuit was filed in response to the fiscal report released by the University in early 2026 showing that the 2025 athletics deficit was over $70 million, the third time in the last five years. Since 2014, the total deficit has grown to $526 million. Rutgers is not the only school operating in an athletics budget deficit. In the 2021-2022 academic year, 98.6% of the 2,023 colleges and universities …

A Seismic Shift with an Unstable Foundation: The NCAA House Settlement Under Scrutiny

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The NCAA’s $2.8 billion settlement in House v. NCAA marks a seismic shift in college athletics. For decades, the NCAA denied college athletes the right to earn any money from their participation in sports, arguing that doing so would undermine the “amateurism” model of college athletics even as it raked in massive revenue—$1 billion annually from “March Madness” alone. Accepting a slice of pizza or a ride to the airport from a coach could be deemed an impermissible “extra benefit” that landed the athlete in hot water with NCAA enforcement staff. Even when their images were used to sell video games, the NCAA made money, their school made money, and the producer of the video game made money—but the athlete could not be paid a dime. The House settlement, reached because of massive damages that the association faced from lawsuits under the antitrust laws that threatened its very existence, changed the landscape completely. Schools can now share up to $20.5 million of their annual athletic revenue from media rights deals, ticket sales, and sponsorships directly …