(Still) Anticompetitive College Sports

Boston College Law Review, Forthcoming

36 Pages Posted: 19 Sep 2024

See all articles by John T. Holden

John T. Holden

Indiana University - Kelley School of Business - Department of Business Law

Marc Edelman

City University of New York - Baruch College, Zicklin School of Business; Fordham University School of Law

Michael McCann

Harvard University - Harvard Law School; University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law

Date Written: August 19, 2024

Abstract

In May 2024, the college sports industry was reported to be on the precipice of entering a new era in which the industry's umbrella oversight association, the NCAA, would trade in its longstanding, anticompetitive practices for a new business model that would allow individual member colleges, subject to a salary cap, to compensate their athletes for providing labor services. The proposed, new business model had materialized, in large part, through negotiations between a team of lawyers who had represented three classes of college athletes and the lawyers who represent the NCAA member schools. 

Some commentators, eagerly amplifying talking points shared by class action attorneys who stand to handsomely profit, have described this proposed settlement as a monumental step to resolve the longstanding labor strife within college sports. However, this rosy portrayal of the proposed settlement ignores that, as proposed, the settlement would continue to allow NCAA member schools to deny college athletes access to free labor markets, as well as would continue to deny them any meaningful voice in determining the future governance of the college sports industry. The settlement also ignores important questions in terms of implementation, including the role of Title IX on proposed revenue allocation. This article explains why, even in the proposed new era of intercollegiate sports, there remain bona-fide anticompetitive concerns pertaining the NCAA's rules, as well as meaningful concerns pertaining to the future representation and voice of college athletes.

Keywords: College sports, antitrust, sports law, employment law, NCAA

Suggested Citation

Holden, John and Edelman, Marc and McCann, Michael A., (Still) Anticompetitive College Sports (August 19, 2024). Boston College Law Review, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4929874 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4929874

John Holden (Contact Author)

Indiana University - Kelley School of Business - Department of Business Law ( email )

Bloomington, IN 47405
United States

Marc Edelman

City University of New York - Baruch College, Zicklin School of Business ( email )

One Bernard Baruch Way
Box B9-220
New York, NY 10010
United States

Fordham University School of Law ( email )

140 West 62nd Street
New York, NY 10023
United States

Michael A. McCann

Harvard University - Harvard Law School ( email )

1563 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States
617.384.9135 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://hls.harvard.edu/faculty/michael-mccann/

University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law ( email )

Franklin Pierce Center for Intellectual Property
2 White Street
Concord, NH 03301
603.513.5254 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://law.unh.edu/person/michael-mccann

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