Appeals Court: Don't Pay Student-Athletes, Though NCAA Does Violate Antitrust Laws

Yesterday morning, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed in part, and overturned in part, last year's highly publicized decision regarding Ed O'Bannon's antitrust case against the National Collegiate Athletic Association ("NCAA"), on which we previously blogged.

Specifically what portions of the District Court ruling did the Appeals Court affirm and overturn?

The Appeals Court agreed with the Northern District of California District Court Judge's ruling that the NCAA's limitation on student-athlete compensation violated the Sherman Antitrust Act by being too restrictive. As such, the Appeals Court affirmed that portion of the ruling which instructed the NCAA to permit schools to provide up to the full cost of attendance to its student-athletes in the form of scholarship. The NCAA's rules had historically created a shortfall of a few thousand dollars per student-athlete by not allowing the schools to provide for expenses, such as transportation and