Attorney General Marty Jackley is suing the NCAA over its proposed settlement in a case involving student athletes.
The settlement centers around an NCAA policy that prohibited athletes from receiving sponsorships from companies.
Attorney General Jackley said Division 1 universities, like ones in South Dakota, shoulder an unfair burden in a proposed $2.8 billion settlement that will go to athletes.
Schools outside of the popular division one conferences—Big Ten, Big Twelve, SEC and ACC—are responsible for 60 percent of the cost of the proposed settlement. That’s despite not being named as defendants in any of the three lawsuits.
SDSU and USD are in the Summit League basketball conference and Missouri Valley Football conference.
Jackley said he does not take issue with the original case, just the settlement.
“It’s the way this came about, and then to ultimately say—even though those athletes and the benefit comes to the big power four conferences—to make the other schools, the South Dakota schools, pay for that. That’s where it’s not fair, it’s not right and it’s not consistent with the NCAA’s membership rules and constitution.”
Jackley said he also disagrees with female athletes receiving less than 10 percent of settlement payouts.
Jackley filed the lawsuit in Brookings County, where South Dakota State University is located. He hopes the NCAA will rework its settlement proposal.
He says the schools could be on the hook for approximately $1 million a year for ten years. That’s money he says either wouldn’t go to student athletes or come from the state legislature or students that enroll at the universities.
The NCAA was not immediately available for comment.
