Erosion of the Idea of Student-Athlete Amateurism

The idea of amateur student-athletes continues to erode. We already have the NIL (name, image, likeness) loophole thanks to the US Supreme Court. More seems to be on the way. From Inside Higher Ed:

A federal judge [last] Friday ruled that thousands of current and former college athletes should be included in the damages phase of an antitrust lawsuit challenging the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s policies governing compensation of players. Claudia Wilken, a federal judge in the Northern District of California, supported a request by plaintiffs in a case known as House v. NCAA to treat more than 10,000 current and former athletes as a class eligible for damages if the judge ultimately rules in favor of the three named athletes who have challenged the association’s policies restricting compensation for the use of their name, image and likeness. They represent football and men’s basketball players, male athletes in all other sports, and female athletes. Wilken has previously ruled in favor of athletes in other major cases, one of which was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2021.

Source: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2023/11/06/judge-grants-class-action-status-athlete-compensation-lawsuit.

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The actual court decision is at:

https://www.insidehighered.com/sites/default/files/2023-11/house%20v%20ncaa%20class%20certification%20ruling.pdf.