( January 22, 2025, 9:18 AM EST) -- OAKLAND, Calif. — The United States filed a statement of interest in the lawsuit in a federal court in California by college athletes who have accused the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and five conferences of violating the Sherman Act by restricting compensation for the commercial use of their names, images and likenesses (NIL), saying that the preliminary approved settlement that the athletes have said will result in “$20 billion more flowing to student-athletes over the next ten years” will actually allow the NCAA “to continue fixing the amount its member schools can pay students for the use of their” NIL....