"Needs to be codified": Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark delivers verdict on $2.8 billion settlement in House v. NCAA lawsuit

Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark was at Capitol Hill on Wednesday alongside his counterparts from the Big Ten, SEC and ACC. The Power Four conferences leadership gathered in Washington to lobby Congress for NIL guidelines amid the House vs. NCAA settlement.

This is coming just days after a pivotal federal court hearing that pushed college athletics closer to a potentially historic settlement, showing how seriously the power conferences are taking the evolving landscape in relation to athletes' compensation.

Brett Yormark made it clear that federal legislation must govern the NIL landscape of collegiate athletics going forward despite the House settlement. The NCAA has agreed to pay approximately $2.8 billion in damages to past and present athletes.

“Everyone knows there's a sense of urgency," Yormark said (per CSNbbs.com). "Time is not on our side, so we have to move quickly and swiftly. The settlement is one thing, but it needs to be codified on the Hill.”

Jim Phillips shares Brett Yormark's view regarding the future of NIL in college football. The ACC commissioner echoed the need for a sustainable system.

"We're kind of in a seminal moment," Phillips said. "We're trying to find something that has sustainability to it. It's a modernization of college sports. I think for all of us, we are passionate about access and affordability to higher education ... at the heart of this thing is opportunities for young men and women.

“Times have changed, and whether we like all the things that have occurred, or we don't, we find ourselves in a position where we are major stewards of the future of college sports."

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Brett Yormark and other Power Four commissioners will continue to push for NIL legislation

For Brett Yormark and the rest of the Power Four commissioners, having legislation that governs the NIL landscape is the way forward for collegiate athletics. And the plan is for them to continue pushing for that until it's eventually achieved, as SEC commissioner Greg Sankey claimed.

"We've been here repeatedly," Sankey said of the commissioners. "The reality is the timing of the House settlement, the new Congress and when we planned really months ago to be here, there was a nexus of issues. We know there's conversations taking place.

“We've educated, I think, effectively members of the House and Senate, and we need to keep pushing and to do that with our universities is much healthier than simply doing that as commissioners and doing so in a coordinated way across the four conferences."

The Power Four commissioners have made several trips to Washington over the past year in the push for NIL legislation. However, the latest trip involved a larger contingent, with presidents, chancellors, athletic directors and coaches marking their presence. This showcases the level of commitment to it within the landscape.