UGA athletic board meets as college athletics undergoing seismic shift

GREENSBORO—The Board of Directors of the University of Georgia Athletic Association is holding its annual three-day end-of-school-year meeting at the posh Ritz-Carlton Lodge as college athletics is undergoing seismic shifts.

The remaining Power Four conferences this week could all approve terms for a settlement agreement for three consolidated antitrust cases that would pay almost $2.8 billion in damages to current and former college athletes over 10 years, USA TODAY Sports confirmed.

SEC presidents were to vote Thursday afternoon. The NCAA Board of Governors voted Wednesday to approve terms, according to Yahoo Sports.

Amidst that backdrop, the UGA board went into executive session Thursday morning for 32 minutes to discuss “litigation matters,” according to Georgia president Jere Morehead who is a member of the NCAA Board of Governors.

After the meeting ended, Morehead said it was “about the landscape in college athletics…I wanted to give the board an update on that topic since we’ll be ultimately affected by those developments.”

Power Four schools would start to share future revenues with athletes—expected to be $19 to $20 million annually.

Morehead was asked if the settlement would affect how Georgia athletics operates.

“We’ve got to be a little cautious because nothing has been settled yet,” he said. “We’re still going through a very detailed and slow process that’s likely to go on for several months. I think I’m going to defer to (SEC) commissioner (Greg) Sankey on making any public statements related to the settlement negotiations.”

The NCAA has had setbacks in the courts that have led to college athletes gaining rights to profit from their name, image and likeness.

“The challenge we’ve had is we have not been successful in litigation, particularly in front of this particular judge in California (U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken)," Morehead said. "I trust the collective judgement of individuals like Commissioner Sankey and President Charlie Baker at the NCAA and others that have been guiding us on where we need to go at this point.”

Georgia is expected to approve a fiscal year 2025 budget Friday of more than $192 million, a 10 percent increase from a year ago.

That’s for an athletic department that has some 550 athletes and 21 sports team.

Georgia is one of the top-tier athletic departments that can better withstand that type of payment to athletes more than others.

It had a $23.5 million operating surplus in the most recent NCAA financial report for fiscal year 2023.

Georgia ranked fifth in total revenue with more than $203 million, according to a survey by USA TODAY Sports.

With expenses rising due to inflation, Georgia is asking programs to look for ways to cut costs and the budget impact from the settlement is a factor as well.

It is exploring raising football and baseball ticket prices after this season.

“You’ve got to pull every lever, right?” athletic director Josh Brooks said. “We’re going to try to find ways to grow revenue whether it’s through our multimedia rights partner, whether it’s through future revenue gains through TV contracts with the CFP. Looking at ticket prices is a way, but also we’ve got to be good stewards of our money, right? We’ve got to find efficiencies and operate in the most efficient manner possible.”

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia president, AD on NCAA proposed settlement