“We deserve more”: Olivia Dunne appears before court to object to $2.75 billion settlement in House v. NCAA lawsuit

LSU Tigers gymnast Olivia Dunne is helping lead the charge against the proposed House vs. NCAA settlement. On Monday, she testified against the settlement terms.

The NCAA Division I athlete testified before a federal court in the Northern District of California. Dunne is advocating for athletes to be compensated at "the value we deserve."

"This settlement uses old logic to calculate modern value. ... Your honor, I ask the settlement not to be approved as it stands. We deserve more than an estimate (of back-pay)," Dunne said. "We deserve to be compensated at the value we deserve."

The proposed settlement has the NCAA paying almost $2.8 billion in damages.

Dunne said that the numbers filed by the NCAA, which detail her earnings from NIL during her time at LSU, are incorrect. To rectify the issue, Dunne decided to opt into the class-action lawsuit, a move she was uncertain she wanted to do in the first place.

The plaintiffs in the case will wait for Judge Claudia Wilken's decision on whether or not to approve the settlement. If the terms are approved as-is, the University of Wisconsin is expected to opt-in to its terms, which would allow the university to share athletic department revenue with its athletes, set new roster limits, and affect other changes within the NCAA as well.

Olivia Dunne brings major backing against proposed NCAA settlement terms

NCAA women's gymnastics: Georgia at LSU - Source: Imagn

Dunne, whose boyfriend is Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes, brings a significant following with her as she battles the NCAA settlement terms, with 5.3 million Instagram followers. She also has over 8 million TikTok followers and introduced herself as both an athlete and a businesswoman before her testimony.

"I ask the settlement not be approved as it stands, not just for me, but for every athlete whose NIL value was real, but invisible," Dunne said. "We deserve more than an estimate. We deserve to be heard, to be seen, and to be compensated for the value we created – not just the value the system was willing to measure."

Dunne started to build her brand even before college, making a name for herself in high school by building an online following on her own based on her accomplishments at the club gymnastics level. Dunne said that, had she not been restricted by NIL rules, her value would have "started higher, scaled faster, and grown even more."