The LA Times has an editorial: http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-ncaa-ruling-20140812-story.html. It tries to cut a middle path:
In ruling that the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. illegally
restrained competition for top student football and basketball players,
U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken could have obliterated the last
remnants of amateurism in major college sports. Happily, she didn't.
Instead, her ruling Friday upheld the association's ability to limit the
compensation paid to students during their collegiate years while also
allowing athletes to benefit more from the fruit of their labors — for
starters, by obtaining enough aid from schools to cover all the costs of
going to college. It's a better balance. Now it's up to the colleges
covered by the decision to return more of the money to the students who
generate it.
The lawsuit, brought by former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon,
challenged the NCAA rule requiring student athletes to give up any claim
to the revenue from television broadcasts, replays, highlight reels,
videogames and any other use of their names, images or likenesses.
Broadcasts in particular have been a cash cow for about 350 colleges and
universities in the NCAA's top tier, generating billions of dollars in
fees.
Wilken found
that the association violated antitrust law by effectively fixing the
price student athletes could command from the most desirable schools.
She rightly dismissed the NCAA's spurious arguments that its limits on
compensation promoted competitive balance, attracted more fans or helped
integrate athletes into the student body. Those are all legitimate
aims, but they're not served by barring students from receiving any of
the licensing revenue...
An interesting question - despite the LA Times' attempt to find one - is whether there is a middle path in what has become a quasi-commercial activity, as any perusal of top coaching salaries will suggest.
It may not be possible to hold back the coming flood, now that a hole has developed:
In any event, you can expect more legal maneuvering:
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2014/08/12/ncaa-seeks-clarification-antitrust-ruling
No comments:
Post a Comment