Female athletes appeal landmark NCAA settlement, saying it violates federal antidiscrimination law

Eight female athletes filed an appeal Wednesday of a landmark NCAA antitrust settlement, arguing that women would not receive their fair share of $2.7 billion in back pay for athletes who were barred from making money off their name, image and likeness.US District Judge Claudia Wilken approved the settlement last week, clearing the way for direct payments from universities to athletes and the end of the NCAA’s amateurism model.The athletes who appealed the settlement competed in soccer, volleyball and track.They are Kacie Breeding of Vanderbilt; Lexi Drumm, Emma Appleman, Emmie Wannemacher, Riley Hass, Savannah Baron and Elizabeth Arnold of the College of Charleston; and Kate Johnson of Virginia.

They have standing to appeal because they previously filed objections to the proposed settlement.Ashlyn Hare, one of the attorneys representing the athletes, said in a statement that the settlement violates Title IX, the federal law that bans sex-based discrimination in education.“We support a settlement of the case, but not an inaccurate one that violates federal law.The calculation of past damages is based on an error that ignores Title IX and deprives female athletes of $1.1 billion,” Hare said.

“Paying out the money as proposed would be a massive error that would cause irreparable harm to women’s sports.”The law firm representing the plaintiffs in the settlement issued a statement saying the appeal would delay payments to hundreds of thousands of athletes by a minimum of several months.“These attorneys are pursuing an appeal based on a Title IX issue that Judge Wilken already disposed of correctly, quickly and multiple times,” the statement said.The House settlement figures to financially benefit football and basketball stars at the biggest schools, who are likely to receive a big chunk of the $20.5 million per year that colleges are permitted to share with athletes over the next year.Some athletes in other sports that don’t make money for their sc...