Insights and Analysis

A Matter of Law podcast | Has antitrust ruined college sports? Navigating the NIL risk landscape

A Matter of Law podcast series

12 June 2026

The legal transformation of college athletics has accelerated faster than most institutions anticipated. In the four years since the Supreme Court's Alston decision cracked open NCAA amateurism rules, a cascade of litigation, settlement, and federal action has fundamentally restructured the economics — and the risk landscape — of college sports. The House settlement requires Power Four schools to share up to $22 million annually in broadcast revenue with athletes. A new executive order ties NCAA compliance directly to institutional eligibility for federal funding. And the NIL ecosystem continues to evolve in real time, with contract enforceability, data privacy, and Title IX equity questions still being worked out across multiple forums.

In this episode of A Matter of Law, Craig Umbaugh, Partner and Global Head of Sports, Media & Entertainment, Education partner Joel Buckman, Investigations, White Collar & Fraud senior associate Jimmy McEntee, and Antitrust associate Sarah Keller walk listeners through the key risk dimensions of the NIL era — and what institutions and companies should be doing now to protect themselves.

Together, they share insights on:

Why NIL arrangements create antitrust exposure for schools and their corporate partners — not just the NCAA
How the House settlement's revenue-sharing model is creating a tiered Division I landscape with distinct legal profiles at each level
What the April 2025 executive order means for institutions with federal funding exposure — and why the August 1 effective date requires immediate action
How Title IX equity obligations apply to the new revenue-sharing model, and why building documentation now is a litigation necessity
What multi-forum dispute strategy looks like when a single incident can trigger NCAA enforcement, civil litigation, arbitration, and federal agency action simultaneously

🎧 Listen to the episode here.

Authored by Craig Umbaugh, Joel Buckman, Jimmy McEntee, and Sarah Keller.

A Matter of Law podcast series

Hogan Lovells’ A Matter of Law goes beyond the headlines to unpack the legal and regulatory shifts driving change across industries. Hosted by members of Hogan Lovells' Global Disputes team, the series offers practical insights and candid conversations on the forces shaping business, policy, and risk, offering sharp insights on how today’s legal developments will define tomorrow’s decisions.