Big 12 first to agree to settle House v. NCAA case, sources say - ESPN

The Big 12 conference became the first named party in the House v. NCAA case to vote to settle that case and related anti-trust cases, sources told ESPN, forging a path to a new era in college athletics.

Big 12 presidents and chancellors voted virtually Tuesday afternoon to unanimously approve, with departing members Texas and Oklahoma abstaining. The 12 continuing members from this year's conference all voted to pass. The other four power conferences and the NCAA board of governors are expected to vote in the upcoming days. The settlement is widely expected to pass, which will chart a new course for college sports.

Sources have consistently indicated to ESPN that there's little resistance on the conference level, and the NCAA is also expected to pass the settlement measure. (The Pac-12 will vote as a full 12-team league, as currently constructed, as they were when the House v. NCAA case was filed.)

Sources told ESPN that Big 12 presidents and chancellors were briefed in recent days on a 13-page term sheet that contains the settlement language.

The key parts of the settlement will include the NCAA paying for more than $2.7 billion in back damages over a decade, about $1.6 billion of which will be withheld from schools.

There's also roughly $20 million in permissive revenue sharing that's expected to begin in fall 2025. This revenue sharing will give athletic departments the direct ability to pay the players, a massive paradigm shift for college athletics.

The point of the schools settling is to avoid even bigger damages down the road, which legal experts considered a likelihood considering the NCAA's poor record in court cases.

Leagues need only majority votes to approve the settlement, and the detractors in conferences