October Antitrust Bulletin

O'Bannon's Impact on Outstanding NCAA Lawsuit

As previously reported, on August 8 the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued its ruling in O'Bannon v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, No. C 09-3329 CW, 2014 WL 3899815 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 8, 2014), holding that the NCAA's rules preventing men's college basketball and football players from controlling the commercial rights to their names and likeness unreasonably restrained trade in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. Just four weeks after the opinion issued, NCAA defendants filed a motion to dismiss in the related Northern District of California case of In re National Collegiate Athletic Association Athletic Grant-in-Aid Cap Antitrust Litigation, 14-md-2541-CW (N.D. Cal.). In the suit, plaintiffs allege that the NCAA conspired to keep scholarships below the cost of attending school. In the motion to dismiss, defendants argue that the nature of plaintiffs' claim should be