Years of struggle and losing battles have left the NCAA nearly helpless to defend itself.
The legal battle against the largest governing body for college sports in the United States continued Wednesday when attorneys general from Tennessee and Virginia filed an antitrust lawsuit that seeks to undermine the few rules the NCAA has to govern how athletes can be compensated for their name, to be put aside. , image and likeness.
That brings to at least five the number of antitrust cases the NCAA is actively defending.
Denials and previous court losses — most notably a unanimous Supreme Court decision against the NCAA in 2021 — have opened the doors to legal scrutiny that the NCAA and the so-called collegiate sports model cannot withstand.
“The NCAA and (the schools) that make up the NCAA have been completely obstinate throughout,” said Florida-based sports attorney Darren Heitner. “They have resisted change. They understand that there is an absolute misclassification of athletes as, quote-unquote, student-athletes, as opposed to employees, and they have continually imposed very severe restrictions on athletes’ ability to capitalize and make money.”
Three of the current lawsuits seek employment status for college athletes or seek to direct a larger share of the billions of dollars spent on college and basketball to those who play those sports.
Amy Perko, CEO of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Sports, said the NCAA’s insistence on trying to govern major universities when they have no jurisdiction over the postseason and no say in how the billions in revenue they generate , are spent, is the cause of most problems. problems of the association.
“High revenue football operates independently of the NCAA in many ways, and the NCAA serves as a legal shield,” Perko said.
The latest threats to the NCAA come from within.
Wednesday’s move by state AGs mirrored what has unfolded over the past two months with a multi-state challenge to NCAA transfer rules.
Overall, the response from Tennessee has become typical of schools that either find themselves in the NCAA’s crosshairs or don’t get the desired results in their dealings with the beleaguered association: an attack on the NCAA’s credibility. Blame it for creating an uncontrollable situation. And maybe file a lawsuit.
Coaches and administrators have complained over the past two years about the relaxed transfer rules and unregulated NIL, calling on the NCAA — which acts solely on the wishes of its membership — to rein it in.
“This legal action would exacerbate what our members themselves have often described as a ‘Wild West’ atmosphere, further tilting the competitive imbalance between schools in neighboring states and reducing protections for student-athletes from potential exploitation,” said the NCAA in response to Wednesday’s meeting. court case.
For a public figure, taking a stand against the NCAA is always a winning position.
“College sports would not exist without college athletes, and those students should not be left behind while everyone else involved thrives,” said Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti. “The NCAA’s restrictions on prospective students’ ability to meaningfully negotiate NIL deals violate federal antitrust law. Only Congress has the power to impose such limits.”
College sports leaders have been lobbying federal lawmakers for five years, even before the NCAA lifted its ban on athletes cashing in on their fame.
One of the main reasons the college presidents, who sit at the top of the NCAA organizational chart, hired former Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker as president was his political savvy.
The NCAA’s first ask of Congress under former President Mark Emmert was for help regulating NIL. That’s almost an afterthought. What the NCAA needs is an antitrust exemption that will actually allow it to govern college sports without risking oblivion.
Lawmakers have been in no rush to help. Baker is trying to be proactive, pushing the NCAA membership to make radical changes — some that could bring the major revenue-generating sport closer to professionalism.
“Obviously we’re going to need some help from Congress to make this work,” Baker said at the NCAA convention in Phoenix this month. “The answer is, yes, I know, but I also believe it’s important for us to give Congress an idea of what something might look like if they chose to support us.”
The mounting legal pressure is leading to speculation about whether the NCAA can remain viable at all. Especially since it risks alienating schools like Tennessee and others in the power conferences, they could do just fine without it.
“To the people who say the NCAA is doomed, they are doomed. Well, that’s easy to say on the outside, but if the schools and their presidents and chancellors want to remain part of it, and Tennessee is the only disgruntled one, then let Tennessee fight the battle. We don’t get involved,” Heitner said.
It doesn’t seem like Tennessee is leading a revolution against the NCAA, but it is destroying an already shaky foundation.
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