Will the Professionalization of Student-Athletes Kill the NCAA?

Abstract

NCAA sports stand on the precipice of professionalization. Following the monumental shift of allowing NIL-related compensation for student-athletes in 2021, the NCAA finds itself fending off multiple student-athlete attacks founded on antitrust, labor, and minimum wage laws that could apply if student-athletes are deemed employees of their universities. Commentators that once glorified the concept of the amateur athlete, now openly predict the end of amateur sports as we have known them. This article addresses the Sherman Act and the possibility of an antitrust exemption that could allow the NCAA to implement many of the cost controls it would prefer to maintain a semblance of amateurism, and it also looks at many of other the legal consequences likely to flow from the potential professionalization of college sports. This article covers the latest effort by student-athletes to unionize, and the NLRB’s apparent receptiveness on that point. This article also addresses the effect of Title IX on college athletics if student-athletes are considered employees, the pivotal case currently before the Third Circuit regarding employee classification and minimum wage laws, workers’ compensation issues for universities, as well as tax-related concerns for the student-athletes themselves. The article is also the first to address immigration-related consequences for international student-athletes if they are considered employees, and the impact on both the international athlete and host university. The college sports landscape has undergone radical change in the past decade, and, without Congressional intervention, even greater change is likely on the horizon.

Keywords: Student-athlete, NCAA, college sports, amateur, amateurism, NIL, antitrust, labor law, NLRA, FLSA, immigration, Title IX, workers' compensation, income tax, minimum wage, exemption

JEL Classification: K21, K31, K34, K37