By Mike Scarcella

(Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department on Friday questioned the fairness of a private $2.8 billion settlement with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, suggesting it was not enough to compensate student athletes.

The Biden administration expressed its views in a filing in federal court in Oakland, California, where the NCAA has been embroiled in class action litigation by students for years.

The settlement, which requires court approval, would be one of the largest ever recovered in a class action and allows NCAA member schools to pay student athletes directly for the first time.

In addition to the $2.8 billion settlement fund, the academic institutions are expected to pay about $20 billion over the next decade under the terms of the deal.

Justice Department antitrust officials said in their filing that they are concerned about a provision in the 10-year settlement that restricts money schools can use to pay athletes.

The filing says, “while the proposed settlement allows for some relief, it still acts as an artificial price cap on what the outside competition can do in the market.”

It urged the court to throw out the settlement or require language clarifying that the cap does not prevent or apply to potential future lawsuits.

The NCAA and Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Justice Department is not a party to the lawsuit. The NCAA has denied wrongdoing in agreeing to the settlement.

In a statement, a lead attorney for the plaintiffs, Steve Berman, defended the settlement and said its terms and conditions were clear.

Berman said failure to ratify the agreement “would hurt billions of dollars that go to student athletes.”

US District Judge Claudia Wilken will weigh in on the final approval of the settlement at a hearing in April.

The case is In re College Athlete NIL Litigation, US District Court, Northern District of California, No. 4:20-cv-03919-CW.

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