Regulating the NCAA: Making the Calls Under the Sherman Antitrust Act and Title IX

Abstract

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a powerful force in shaping the intercollegiate athletic programs of some 1,200 public and private colleges. Courts have recognized the NCAA as an entity that serves the important and admirable functions of maintaining the amateur status of intercollegiate athletics and the integrity of the educational process for the student-athletes, while providing a fair and equitable competitive environment. Most of the NCAA's rule and regulations are promulgated to promote and maintain these goals. Nevertheless, both student-athletes and coaches have challenged NCAA rules in the courts, claiming that certain rules discriminate on the basis of sex, race, and disability or that the rule place an unreasonable restraint on trade. Courts have struggled with how to apply the laws of the business world as well a civil rights laws to these educational institutions.