All the Catastrophists on this board (about 50% of you) need to remember that the NCAA/P4 has lost EVERY SINGLE TIME THEY HAVE BEEN SUED by anyone credible. This is not even a grey area legally, the P4 is legally toast without a Congressional Hail Mary giving the P4 and NCAA a Safe Harbor. The most divided Supreme Court since before the Civil War ruled 9-0 in the Alston case that college athletics is an ongoing anti-trust violation, which makes it unlikely they will even hear another anti-trust case, they will just refer to the Alston precedent. The House plaintiffs have a gun against the P4's head demanding a settlement now, or they are going to court in a case that the P4 is GUARANTEED TO LOSE.
Now the Catastrophists are saying that the ongoing anti-trust violation P4 is going to walk away from everyone else if the non-P4 schools do not cover a $1 billion settlement? Let the P4 walk. UConn could end up with their NIL budget covered by Ohio State and Alabama for the next 20 years.
This is not a remotely complicated decision. The best move by the Big East is to threaten to block the settlement. The P4 are named in the suit, the Big East isn't, and if the House case goes to court, it is going to end up being a lot worse than $2.8 billion.