As Division I college athletes continue their crusade to be properly compensated by a billion-dollar entity known as the NCAA, the Supreme Court has jumped into the fray and awarded them a unanimous victory.
From CNBC:
The Supreme Court handed a unanimous victory Monday to Division I college athletes in their fight against the National Collegiate Athletic Association over caps it sought to impose on compensation related to education.
The court voted 9-0 to affirm lower court rulings that found that antitrust law prevented the NCAA from restricting payments to athletes for items such as musical instruments or as compensation for internships. The justices rejected the NCAA’s argument that its players’ amateur status would be impossible to maintain if they could receive pay, even for education-related expenses.
“Put simply, this suit involves admitted horizontal price-fixing in a market where the defendants exercise monopoly control,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote on behalf of our highest court.
As things stand within the tyrannical kingdom known as the NCAA, students are prohibited from receiving compensation of any sort and scholarship rewards are limited to the costs of enrollment at the school. The NCAA has maintained that these rules are in place in order to preserve the amateur status of college sports, but we all know that’s complete bullshit.
In their lawsuit, former athletes argued that the NCAA’s guidelines on education-related compensation were “unfair and violate federal antitrust law designed to promote competition.” This Supreme Court ruling has no bearing on whether or not students can receive salaries, however, but will “help determine whether schools decide to offer athletes tens of thousands of dollars in education-related benefits for things such as computers, graduate scholarships, tutoring, study abroad and internships.”
“It’s tremendous to win this 9-0,” the plaintiff’s attorney, Jeffrey Kessler, told ESPN. “Hopefully it will be the major next step on the road to a true fair competitive system for these athletes. It should have positive effects immediately on NIL [names, images and likenesses]. We look forward to a world that’s better for college athletes today than it was yesterday.”
“The NCAA is not above the law,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh said in response to Monday’s opinion. “The NCAA’s business model would be flatly illegal in almost any other industry in America.”
With today’s landmark victory, student-athletes are one step closer to liberty and justice for all. That definitely warrants a soul clap.