NCAA BAN ON PAYING COLLEGE ATHLETES VIOLATES FEDERAL ANTITRUST LAW:  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled today that the NCAA’s ban on any pay for basketball or football players in Division I schools violates federal antitrust law.

Ruling that the Supreme Court has not settled the issue, and setting the stage for the Court to do so, a federal appeals court declared on Wednesday that the main college sports organization’s total ban on any pay for students who play football or basketball at major schools is illegal under federal antitrust law.  But, it also ruled by a divided vote that those athletes should not be paid even one dollar more than what it costs them to attend college while they are there.  It voided a judge’s order that they get paid $5,000 for each year of play, after they have left the campus.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in a case that applies only to so-called Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association — that is, the big-time programs — and only for basketball and football players at that level.   But it creates a conflict with other federal appeals courts on an issue that the NCAA has long treated as vital to the very existence of college football as a game for amateurs, not professionals.

The NCAA has vigorously defended its “amateur athlete” view every time it has been challenged by student athletes who sought compensation, and it has long held the view that its rules are totally exempt from antitrust law — an exemption it traces to a 1984 Supreme Court decision dealing with television rights for college football games.  The Ninth Circuit disagreed with that argument Wednesday.

The organization has strong reasons for taking the issue on to the Supreme Court, to defend a view of amateurism that it has held for perhaps ninety-four years and that it has reinforced with strict rules against athlete compensation for sixty-seven years.  (The NCAA’s amateurism view gained significantly earlier this year, when the National Labor Relations Board found it had no authority to rule on a plea by Northwestern University football players that they should have a legal right under federal labor law to join a union to bargain for pay and other benefits related to their sports careers in college.  That decision could not be appealed.)

It is not clear at this point whether the new Ninth Circuit decision will have a major impact on the finances of college football, if that ruling stands.  The NCAA, under a policy that the Ninth Circuit said the organization would otherwise be free to change, has already allowed athletes to get football and basketball scholarships that not only cover the basics of tuition and books (so-called “grant-in-aid” packages), but at a level that would cover the entire cost of their attendance.  The Ninth Circuit ruling would simply require the NCAA to continue compensation at that full level, as a legal duty.

The full Ninth Circuit opinion is available here.