Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Audrey Anderson spoke with host June Grasso on a recent episode of the Bloomberg Law Podcast discussing the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling against the NCAA that allows greater compensation for student-athletes. The decision allows college athletes in Division I schools participating in football and men’s and women’s basketball to receive education-related benefits that are not cash in an unlimited amount and cash or cash-equivalent academically-related benefits up to $5,900.
Speaking about the background of the case, Audrey said, “what the NCAA really wanted here was to get some kind of deferential review under the antitrust laws for amateurism rules of the NCAA. . . . [Instead,] we have the rule of reason analysis which is what we use under the antitrust laws, and that’s what’s appropriate for the NCAA.”
Of the decision, Audrey commented, “this decision is important because it does say to the NCAA that the antitrust laws apply to you. … You like all other businesses in America, can’t make agreements with your competitors that you’re going to pay your labor zero dollars. That will end up accruing to the benefit of the student-athletes because now some schools will choose to provide greater (right now) academic benefits to student-athletes and some won’t. And student-athletes can make choices based on what they think is best for them.”
The full episode, “Student Athletes Score Unanimous Win Over NCAA,” was released on June 26 by the Bloomberg Law Podcast and is available wherever you get your podcast content.