By James Sutherland on SwimSwam
The NCAA is changing its rules relating to student-athletes accepting prize money after settling a class-action lawsuit brought forward by UNC tennis star Reese Brantmeier.
Last week, the NCAA agreed to pay $2.02 million in damages, including a special $10,000 award to Brantmeier and former Texas tennis player Mia Joint, after the two argued that the current NCAA rules restrict their ability to earn prize money at outside competitions. The NCAA will also pay more than $2 million in attorneys’ fees, administrative costs and other costs, as first reported by WRAL-TV in Raleigh.
The settlement still needs to be finalized by Chief U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Eagles.
Along with payouts, the NCAA will amend its rules to eliminate restrictions on prize money before initial full-time enrollment, according to documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina and obtained by The Associated Press. The rules will apply to athletes in all sports, not just tennis.
“The adjustment to preenrollment prize money rules is part of the class action settlement in Brantmeier v. NCAA, but the rule change is also consistent with Division I’s ongoing work to modernize rules to benefit student-athletes,” the NCAA said in a press release on April 15, prior to the settlement terms being finalized.
Previously, athletes were able to accept up to their “actual and necessary expenses” in prize money in order to remain eligible prior to enrollment, except for tennis, which had a prize money limit of $10,000 per calendar year.
The “actual and necessary expenses” rule still applies to current student-athletes in the NCAA.
“The proposed settlement is an extraordinary outcome for the Classes and the injunctive relief obtained will positively impact future generations of student-athletes,” the plaintiffs wrote in a brief in support of approval.
In her initial complaint against the NCAA, filed in March 2024, Brantmeier included all non-revenue, individual sports, including swimming.
“The NCAA’s rules related to prize money restrictions for student-athletes in non-revenue, individual sports are completely arbitrary — particularly when viewed in the context of other rules, restrictions, exceptions, and enforcement in the overall present landscape of college athletics,” her original complaint said, according to WRAL-TV.
She amended the complaint in November 2024, limiting it to just Division I tennis players, and in July 2025, the judge certified an injunctive relief class and a damage class to include all NCAA Division I tennis players who were either ineligible to compete due to the prize money rules or who forfeited money due to the rules.
Last summer, star Australian swimmer and Olympic gold medalist Lani Pallister revealed on the Unfiltered Waters podcast that she had committed to the University of Florida in 2023, but was told by the NCAA she was ineligible to compete unless she gave back all the prize money she’d ever accepted.
Under the new guidelines, Pallister would have been eligible to join the Gators.
However, with the new age-based eligibility rules expected to be implemented later this month, it’s important to note that while international athletes are now eligible to join the NCAA if they’ve accepted prize money, they’ll still have to follow the five-year clock that begins when they turn 19 or graduate high school, whichever is earlier.
Using Pallister as an example, she initially committed to joining Florida in the fall of 2024. Having turned 19 in June 2021, she would’ve only had two seasons of eligibility, with the 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons counting against her clock.
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