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Supreme Court sides with former athletes in dispute with NCAA

Supreme Court sides with former athletes in dispute with NCAA
the incident away for over 100 years had an amateurism model and under that amateurism model, although it's evolved over time, the current definition of amateurism is that college athletes cannot be paid based on their athletic ability unrelated to education, so they can receive athletic scholarships. But they can't receive any money. On top of that, they can't be paid to play. They can't be paid to come to a school. They can't be paid to do an endorsement deal. Those rules might change a little bit, but right now that's the system. Really shockingly low graduation rates, only a tiny percentage ever go on to make any money in professional sports. So the argument is they are recruited, they're used up, and then they're cast aside. But just look at this year in the middle of a pandemic. While many college students were taking classes remotely and we're not back on campus at FBS and Division One basketball, they were back and playing and traveling across the country. And so there are health and safety risks. There is the potential lack of education. There is also the exploitation angle that they are generating money but not getting a piece of it. So you put all of that together. And the court wondered whether amateurism was really just serving as a cover for the exploitation of these athletes and whether this model that may have made sense in the early 19 hundreds, when there weren't these massive television vehicles and massive coaching salaries. Whether that model makes sense today, when we're seeing billion dollar television, the $6000 a year amounts to $735 million per year that schools have to come up with in addition to the the retrospective Trouble Damages Awards. So the argument instantly makes a lot of these cases is that if they were required to pay or allowed to pay college football and basketball players, that that would detract from the overall educational mission, it would lead to a race to the bottom in terms of competition for these athletes. And it would also harm college athletics as a whole and that what many universities pride themselves on is what they call broad based opportunities. It's not just about college football basketball. It's also about the Olympic sports, the swimming and diving and tennis and golf from across the sports that don't generate significant amounts of revenue and lose money for the school. And the thought is that the revenue generated by football and basketball is needed to subsidize those sports. So we'll know more in a couple of months whether this is the more of the same for the answer to play, that they'll be able to maintain the status quo more or less, or whether this is the beginning of the end of amateurism restrictions as we know it and that maybe in 2345 years, we'll look back and say, I cannot believe this college basketball players used to play for free and that their payment will be in part because of the outcome in this case.
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Supreme Court sides with former athletes in dispute with NCAA
The Supreme Court decided unanimously Monday that the NCAA can't enforce rules limiting education-related benefits — like computers and paid internships — that colleges offer to student athletes.The case doesn't decide whether students can be paid salaries. Instead, the ruling will help determine whether schools decide to offer athletes tens of thousands of dollars in those benefits for things including tutoring, study abroad programs and graduate scholarships.The high court agreed with a group of former college athletes that NCAA limits on the education-related benefits that colleges can offer athletes who play Division I basketball and football are unenforceable.Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the court that the NCAA sought "immunity from the normal operation of the antitrust laws," which the court declined to grant.CLICK HERE TO READ THE COURT'S DECISION Under current NCAA rules, students cannot be paid, and the scholarship money colleges can offer is capped at the cost of attending the school. The NCAA had defended its rules as necessary to preserve the amateur nature of college sports.But the former athletes who brought the case, including former West Virginia football player Shawne Alston, argued that the NCAA's rules on education-related compensation were unfair and violate federal antitrust law designed to promote competition. The Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling barring the NCAA from enforcing those rules.As a result of the ruling, the NCAA itself can't bar schools from sweetening their offers to Division I basketball and football players with additional education-related benefits. But individual athletic conferences can still set limits if they choose. A lawyer for the former athletes had said before the ruling that he believed that if his clients won, "very many schools" would ultimately offer additional benefits.The NCAA had argued that a ruling for the athletes could lead to a blurring of the line between college and professional sports, with colleges trying to lure talented athletes by offering over-the-top education benefits worth thousands of dollars. Even without the court's ruling, however, changes seem on the way for how college athletes are compensated. The NCAA is trying to amend its rules to allow athletes to profit from their names, images and likenesses. That would allow athletes to earn money for things like sponsorship deals, online endorsement and personal appearances. For some athletes, those amounts could dwarf any education-related benefits.The players associations of the NFL, the NBA and the WNBA had all urged the justices to side with the ex-athletes, as did the Biden administration.

The Supreme Court decided unanimously Monday that the NCAA can't enforce rules limiting education-related benefits — like computers and paid internships — that colleges offer to student athletes.

The case doesn't decide whether students can be paid salaries. Instead, the ruling will help determine whether schools decide to offer athletes tens of thousands of dollars in those benefits for things including tutoring, study abroad programs and graduate scholarships.

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The high court agreed with a group of former college athletes that NCAA limits on the education-related benefits that colleges can offer athletes who play Division I basketball and football are unenforceable.

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the court that the NCAA sought "immunity from the normal operation of the antitrust laws," which the court declined to grant.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE COURT'S DECISION

Under current NCAA rules, students cannot be paid, and the scholarship money colleges can offer is capped at the cost of attending the school. The NCAA had defended its rules as necessary to preserve the amateur nature of college sports.

But the former athletes who brought the case, including former West Virginia football player Shawne Alston, argued that the NCAA's rules on education-related compensation were unfair and violate federal antitrust law designed to promote competition. The Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling barring the NCAA from enforcing those rules.

As a result of the ruling, the NCAA itself can't bar schools from sweetening their offers to Division I basketball and football players with additional education-related benefits. But individual athletic conferences can still set limits if they choose. A lawyer for the former athletes had said before the ruling that he believed that if his clients won, "very many schools" would ultimately offer additional benefits.

The NCAA had argued that a ruling for the athletes could lead to a blurring of the line between college and professional sports, with colleges trying to lure talented athletes by offering over-the-top education benefits worth thousands of dollars. Even without the court's ruling, however, changes seem on the way for how college athletes are compensated. The NCAA is trying to amend its rules to allow athletes to profit from their names, images and likenesses. That would allow athletes to earn money for things like sponsorship deals, online endorsement and personal appearances. For some athletes, those amounts could dwarf any education-related benefits.

The players associations of the NFL, the NBA and the WNBA had all urged the justices to side with the ex-athletes, as did the Biden administration.