NCAA, Coaches Get Initial Approval of $49.3 Million Settlement

The NCAA won preliminary approval of a $49.3 million deal to settle antitrust claims that it colluded to avoid paying hundreds of Division I college baseball volunteer coaches.

William B. Shubb of the US District Court for the Eastern District of California in a Wednesday order called the deal “fair, just, reasonable, and adequate” for a proposed class of approximately 1,000 baseball coaches. The court set a final fairness hearing for Sept. 15.

The case is one of two suits assigned to Shubb that involve antitrust challenges to a since-repealed NCAA bylaw barring volunteer coaches from receiving pay. Volunteer coaches ...