Paul Finebaum declares winner in House settlement case, warns of next step

The long-awaited House Settlement was finally approved by Judge Claudia Wilken early in June. Now, ESPN pundit Paul Finebaum sees that there is a clear winner of the agreement.

For the short term, at least, Finebaum explained on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning, that for the time being the Power Four commissioners won with the House Settlement. However, there is reason for concern on the horizon still.

“Today they did,” Paul Finebaum said. “And I think that’s why you see such bullishness from the four Power Four commissioners. I think what’s behind the curtain is what always concerns and keeps people that run college athletics up at night. If something is challengeable, you know enough and play golf with enough attorneys, it will be challenged. I don’t suspect, I know attorneys are sitting around right now — they’re not sitting, they’re actively moving — trying to figure out where the best route is, where the best lawsuit lies.”

In part of Judge Wilken’s decision, she shared that all the decisions in the House Settlement are challengeable in the court of law. That’s why Finebaum is concerned about further lawsuits, which could undo aspects of the settlement.

“I don’t mean to cast aspersions on the entire legal profession, although I will. They’re in business to make money as opposed to what I always thought they were supposed to do, which is protect people, defend people, and seek the truth and justice. But there will be a bevy of lawsuits and the same cats who filed this lawsuit are the ones I think you need to keep your eyes on,” Finebaum said. “And I think that’s where this is gonna get uncomfortable. Everybody’s speculating on where it goes.”

Even with the House Settlement, there has been a push for further changes within the sport. In particular, federal government involvement to set further laws regarding college sports. That even recently included Donald Trump meeting with SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey and Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua. Still, even with all of that, one thing Finebaum doesn’t expect is more help from Congress.

“I think the second part of it is Congress. I heard everyone yesterday talk about the need to get Congress involved. Well, I don’t believe we’re any closer to that than we were the day before or a year ago or three years ago,” Finebaum said. “Because Congress is not a body made to make decisions. The reason why people like divided leadership is nothing ever gets done because people in business really don’t want anything to get done.”

The House Settlement is going to bring with it several major changes to the college sports world. That, notably, includes revenue sharing with athletes. It’s also going to impose roster limits on sports, new NIL restrictions, and lead to back damages being paid.

“Despite some compromises, the settlement agreement nevertheless will result in extraordinary relief for members of the settlement classes,” Wilken wrote in her 76-page final opinion. “If approved, it would permit levels and types of student-athlete compensation that have never been permitted in the history of college sports, while also very generously compensating Division I student-athletes who suffered past harms.”

Plenty of questions linger over college sports, even with the House Settlement in place. It forms a new enforcement agency called the College Sports Commission. On top of that, it contradicts several state laws, including one in Tennessee that allows schools and their NIL collectives to continue to pay above the cap. How successful it slows down third-party NIL deals also remains to be seen.