Colleges Risk Equal Pay Lawsuits in Sharing Revenue With Players

Colleges and universities face the threat of gender discrimination lawsuits if they share revenue differently between male and female student athletes and fail to justify the disparities.

Under a pending NCAA antitrust settlement with former Division I players, colleges have agreed to pay their athletes at least 22% of media revenue each year. While colleges may be inclined to share more funds with the programs that generate the most revenue, attorneys and academics caution that doing so can open those schools up to litigation under workplace civil rights laws and Title IX of of the 1972 Education Amendments.

“They’re going ...