Mit Winter’s Post

Settlement talks in a class-action antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA are progressing positively, according to lead attorney Steve Berman, as a crucial deadline approaches next week for the NCAA and major conferences to finalize an agreement that could reshape the landscape of college sports, costing billions in damages and introducing a pioneering revenue-sharing system for student-athletes... #antitrust #athletes #sports #competitionlaw #revenuesharing #studentathletes #collegesports

College sports leaders are in talks to settle the ongoing NIL / antitrust lawsuit, House v. NCAA. The House case was originally filed in the Northern District of California by former collegiate swimmer Grant House. Plaintiffs argue that the NCAA restricted athletes’ ability to profit from their NIL, alleging a violation of antitrust laws. A settlement could include revenue sharing with athletes and legal protection for the #NCAA. The NCAA is opposed to athletes being classified as employees. According to the article, schools will have the discretion to opt in to revenue sharing up to a certain amount with their student athletes. The exact mechanics of how this will work are still uncertain. Schools could choose to share less, but not more, than the designated amount. #NIL #collegesports #sportslaw #NCAA #collegeathletes Source: https://lnkd.in/eYQP4GyD

In this article by Eric Prisbell of On3, the American Athletic Conference’s commissioner says the NCAA needs an antitrust exemption because it’s currently “getting sued over nonsense” and that it isn’t “the candy store for these lawyers.” This is the attitude that is preventing college athletics from moving forward with a new model. You can’t claim you’re being sued over nonsense when multiple federal courts (including the Supreme Court) have found on multiple occasions that your athlete compensation limits violate antitrust law. Instead of being willing to adapt and to create a new model that complies with the law, the NCAA and others are instead asking for their actions to no longer be subject to the law. Every industry would of course love to be immune from antitrust scrutiny. But it’s not a realistic ask. Serious work on a new model that complies with antitrust law needs to begin now. #collegeathletics #collegeathletes #ncaa https://lnkd.in/grFkrPrQ

A new antitrust class action lawsuit, Carter v NCAA, has been filed against the NCAA and the Power 5 conferences. This case goes farther than the pending House v NCAA case and attacks the NCAA’s rules that restrict conferences and schools from compensating athletes for their athletic services. House is only about rules relating to #NIL compensation. The lawsuit seeks an injunction that prevents the NCAA from enforcing its no “pay for play” rules, and damages for the compensation that P5 football and men’s and women’s basketball players who played from December 2019 to the present would have received in the absence of those rules. A quote from the complaint: “These draconian, collusive rules prohibit what the NCAA refers to as ‘pay-for-play,’ but what anyone else would call market-value compensation. In college sports, only the athletes are treated as ‘amateurs.’” This lawsuit was very foreseeable. And it’s why the NCAA was/is still seeking an antitrust exemption. Until college athletics admits what some of its sports are (professional athletics), and crafts a model to reflect that, its legal problems are going to continue. Half measures (like Charlie Baker’s proposal earlier this week) that try to maintain the current model and structure aren’t going to work legally. People need to think much bigger and almost start from scratch. #collegeathletics #collegeathletes #ncaa #sportslaw

After #federal lawmakers have proposed more than a dozen bills to reform #college sports in the past three years that have all failed to progress through the #legislative process, the current lack of a nationwide standard has created a race among state legislatures to pass #laws designed to give teams within their state a competitive advantage in #recruiting. In our latest post on #TheOfficialReview, #NewYork Associate Christina Stylianou and #Phoenix Partner Gregg Clifton discuss multiple new proposed bi-partisan #NIL bills which have been introduced to Congress. Read the full #blog on our website to learn more about these bills. #SportsLaw #EntertainmentLaw #CollegeSports #CollegeAthletes #EmploymentLaw #LaborLaw #NameImageLikeness #StudentAthletes #Law NCAA

Several states are challenging an NCAA rule that unjustifiably restrains the ability of college athletes to engage in the market for their labor as NCAA Division I college athletes. Clark Hill Law provides the details. #sportslaw #ncaa #collegeathletics

NFL Draft Day is here, and the college transfer portal is also heating up this spring. #NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) is playing a role in the decisions for many #college athletes. #Virginia has become the first state to pass a groundbreaking law to allow colleges to pay athletes for NIL Deals. Our #litigation #sportslaw and #laborlaw attorney Caleb Diaz discusses how this legislation revolutionizes how athletes engage with their #brands in college sports. Caleb’s work on NIL deals and legislation has garnered national media attention, including from The Washington Post and ESPN. Read more >> https://lnkd.in/eqSBmu_p #NILDeals #Legislation #GovernmentRelations #LaborandEmployment #HigherEducation

Pick any article you want today addressing the situation confronting schools and basketball players right now as a result of the judge's ruling on Wednesday, but none will address the heart of the matter. It's called "institutional control" and it's those two words that make enforcement of rights under state or federal law ineffective in resolving eligibility disputes, i.e. simply whether an athlete sits or not. We've seen this movie many times before (I think James Wiseman is the most recent high profile one). Someone seeks injunctive relief from court that athlete can compete. Court grants TRO or preliminary injunction. School must decide whether to withhold athlete from competition. If you think state "NIL" laws provide all kinds of "rights", hold that thought until someone tries to enforce one when there is an eligibility dispute. If you want state and federal law to be an effective mechanism for resolving eligibility disputes, the NCAA member institutions need to change the NCAA governance system of "institutional control" OR they need to replace the reinstatement process with an independent, neutral arbitration process for resolving eligibility disputes (e.g. AAA or CAS). #ncaa #governance https://lnkd.in/gUeUUwa7

News broke yesterday that the NCAA is investigating Tennessee for #NIL-related rules violations, based on its collective allegedly using an NIL deal as a recruiting inducement. As part of that, the University of Tennessee’s chancellor wrote a strongly worded letter to NCAA president Charlie Baker that hinted a lawsuit was coming. Today, that lawsuit was filed. In a surprise, Virginia has joined Tennessee as a plaintiff in the case. The complaint alleges that the NCAA’s ban on using NIL agreements as recruiting inducements violates federal antitrust law. It asks that the rule be declared illegal and that a temporary restraining order (and eventual permanent injunction) be entered to prohibit the rule from being enforced. The motion for TRO that was also filed this morning by the two states asks that the TRO be entered by February 6, the day before the DI football signing period opens. This scenario is similar to the lawsuit originally filed by seven states alleging that the NCAA’s transfer rules violate antitrust law. The case resulted in a TRO/preliminary injunction that prevents the NCAA from enforcing its transfer rules. The US DOJ and four other states have now joined that lawsuit. I expect the same thing to happen here with respect to the NCAA’s ability to enforce its NIL related rules. The court will enter a TRO/preliminary injunction prohibiting the NCAA from enforcing its rules that restrict NIL deals from being used as recruiting inducements. And additional states may join as plaintiffs. I think the NCAA/college athletics should get the picture now that its rules on athlete compensation and player movement can’t be enforced as they violate antitrust law. It should have been working on a new, legally compliant model for college athletics the day after the Supreme Court’s Alston decision. Instead, it’s wasted 2.5 years and millions of dollars trying to fight the inevitable. If college athletics wants enforceable rules, it needs a model that incudes collective bargaining with athlete representatives. I think it may be too late for the NCAA to remain a part of this new world. I’d expect new governing bodies/leagues to form to operate specific sports. #ncaa #collegeathletics #collegeathletes #sportslaw #antitrustlaw

The rate of change around the governance of athlete compensation and player movement continues to accelerate. But will be be fast enough to settle several upcoming anti-trust cases that could cost the NCAA and major conferences billions of dollars. In the meantime, A4 athletic departments are preparing for an uncertain future and can now help broker NIL deals for their athletes. Direct payment is likely to follow. Here's an overview of attorney Jeffrey Kessler and his views on elements that could settle the antitrust cases. The question is: Can the college sports governance evolve quickly enough to avoid a potentially (and fiscally) disastrous lose in court. https://lnkd.in/eKNckMdQ