Supreme Court Backs Payments to Student-Athletes

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Monday that the N.C.A.A. cannot bar relatively modest payments to student-athletes in the name of amateurism. The decision, based on antitrust law, came as the business model of college sports is under increasing pressure. Last year, a federal appeals court ruled that the N.C.A.A. was not free to limit benefits tied to education for Division I football and basketball players.

The decision allowed payments for things like musical instruments, scientific equipment, postgraduate scholarships, tutoring, study abroad, academic awards and internships. It did not permit the outright payment of salaries. The court rejected the N.C.A.A.’s argument that compensating athletes would alienate sports fans who prize students’ amateur status. “Uncapping certain education-related benefits would preserve consumer demand for college athletics just as well as the challenged rules do,” Chief Judge Sidney R. Thomas wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco.

“Such benefits are easily distinguishable from professional salaries,” he wrote, as they are linked to education and could be provided in kind rather than in cash. “The record furnishes ample support,” Judge Thomas added, “that the provision of education-related benefits has not and will not repel college sports fans.” The Supreme Court last considered how antitrust laws applied to the association in 1984, ruling that its restrictions on television coverage of college football games were unlawful.

But the decision, National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma, included an influential passage on student-athletes. “The N.C.A.A. plays a critical role in the maintenance of a revered tradition of amateurism in college sports,” Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the majority in that case. “There can be no question but that it needs ample latitude to play that role, or that the preservation of the student-athlete in higher education adds richness and diversity to intercollegiate athletics and is entirely consistent with the goals of” the antitrust laws.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/21/us/supreme-court-ncaa-student-athletes.html

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Another unanimous opinion!

From SCOTUSblog -

Link to tweet

TEXT

SCOTUSblog
@SCOTUSblog
·
Jun 21, 2021
NEW: In a victory for college athletes, SCOTUS unanimously invalidates a portion of the NCAA's "amateurism" rules. The court says the NCAA can no longer bar colleges from providing athletes with education-related benefits such as free laptops or paid post-graduate internships.
SCOTUSblog
@SCOTUSblog

Here is the opinion in NCAA v. Alston. Justice Gorsuch delivered the opinion for a unanimous court. Justice Kavanaugh wrote separately to concur. https://supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/20-512_gfbh.pdf
10:13 AM · Jun 21, 2021

Here is the ruling - https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/20-512_gfbh.pdf (PDF)

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. I was just about to ...

Good morning.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Good morning!

The WaPo breaking came in first but only had a few sentences and a too-long headline at the time but the NYT breaking came not long after with more info, so I went with that (and added the SCOTUSblog reference).

[Thomas Hurt]

3. Not sure why they don't give all college athletes a full ride scholarship...

The student athlete stays on the team and keeps their grades up, they get their pay...a four year degree, room, board and books.

[ananda]

4. It looks as though colleges have given up on education for athletes.

The winning team is all that counts.

[aggiesal]

9. That is not even close to accurate ...

There are more than 460,000 NCAA student-athletes
Of those that go pro in their sport
Men’s Basketball - 1%
Women’s Basketball - 1%
Football - 2%
Baseball - 9%
Men’s Ice Hockey - 1%
Men’s Soccer - 2%

90% of student-athletes graduated within 6 years.

[efhmc]

11. Nice to know.

[Escurumbele]

16. Maybe I don't understand what your point is, a full scholarship should be enough, they get a degree

then they go out and get a good job. The price for going and playing in college is not necessarily going professional in their respective sport.

They all should get scholarships, make sure they are helped with their studies, that they don't have to worry about money for food, books, tuition, etc. maybe even a little for other necessities like clothe, and even going out for a sandwich or whatever, but not a salary.

Also, they need to keep a certain GPA to keep their scholarship.

I know its hard, I have to kids who went to college with scholarships, the demands are huge, but with discipline they can graduate with honors. And by the way, even with full scholarships we had to help them with money every month, the full scholarship covered tuition, books, and a limit of room & board that was not enough, so all that should be covered, but not a salary.

I have a feeling this will open a Pandora box.

[obamanut2012]

5. That isn't a salary of share of mechandise sales of their jerseys

Those are two different things. They should pay them, period. They should be allowed to unionize like any other professional athlete, because they are professional athletes.

[aggiesal]

12. This is where we disagree ...

The student athletes are being paid in the form of a scholarship.
They get a free education plus room & board, that the rest of us have/had to pay on average $20,000/Yr. for state universities and $46,000/Yr. for private universities. All Tax Free. So that's $80,000 over 4 years for state schools.
And they are limited in how much time they can spend on their sport to 20 hours per week, which include games, practices, weight training and meetings. Just like a student job.
So you'll never convince me that they are NOT getting paid.

Now, if you like, universities should just pay them the money that the education costs, and allow 18 year olds kids to decide for themselves how they want to spend that money? Then sure pay them. In 5-10 years, you'll hear stories of spectacular student-athletes, who thought that could go pro but didn't, living homeless or paying off an $80K debt.

Should they get paid for their likeness being used? Absolutely
Should they be restricted from receiving benefits that other students get towards their education (i.e. laptops, internships, ..., as this ruling affects)? Absolutely not! They should get what other students get.
Will this ruling be abused by University Boosters? I'll put money down that some university will abuse it within 5 years.
Will cars, apartments, credit cards, ... become necessities for their education? Watch what happens!

Back when NCAA student-athletes were allowed to have internships, local businesses would hire student-athletes and pay them to do nothing.
This was abused in the past and will get abused again.

The judges ruled unanimously, based on the law. But watch what happens in the real world.

[rdking647]

14. there are about 350 division 1 bball teams

each team is limited to 13 scholarships

lets round this to 5k students on scholarship
at 20k a year thats 100M

the NCAA gets over 1B a year just from the tv contract for bball
now add in tickets costs and merchandise sales.

college athletes should be paid. I would love to see for example in the ncaa tournament the final 4 teams tell the NCAA they wont play unless they get paid..

the ncaa can rot away

[aggiesal]

17. And how many people attend all the other sports? ...

You cherry pick Basketball and along with Football, about the money they make.
Yet both men's & women's soccer, women's basketball, track & field, swimming, gymnastics, la crosse, baseball, softball, volleyball, water polo, golf, ...
usually have less than 100 spectator at their events. That money, you mentioned, pays for these other sports.
And with Title IX, there are more sports for women than men at the university level, because of this disparity with predominate money going towards Football and Men's Basketball.
Watch what happens when Universities have to pay the student-athletes. Football and possible Men's Basketball will break away from the NCAA umbrella, and all the money they receive will only apply to that sport. That means less money for all the other sports and will no doubt mean less sports for women. So all those scholarships will disappear.

There are 460,000 student-athletes x $20,000/yr. = $9.2B

BTW, there are 18,000 Men's Basketball student-athletes

[StClone]

22. Will there be limits on compensation?

Will rich schools have an advantage? If this is pay for play, why should there be limits on compenation? Will there be bidding wars for top athletes. Why should there not be higher pay for better talent?

This is not the end of college sports,just the the last strands of how it used to be being taken apart and it will be interesting to see where it goes.

[aggiesal]

23. Are you saying they should be paid or not be paid? n/t

[StClone]

24. They will be paid

If there is going to be a "market" for the best talent or are there going to be controls. Surely you must have thought about this aspect of paying athletes.

[aggiesal]

25. Of course I've thought about paying athletes ...

When they're professionals

Student-Athletes are already being paid for their services.
Maybe not for their likeness, which I believe they should be paid for, but
they are being paid in the form of a scholarship. This amounts to about
$80K (State university) tax free for getting a degree and playing the sport they love.

If they're smart enough to get into the elite schools like Stanford (private)
or Michigan (public), they might get paid more based on the cost of tuition.

So yes, student-athletes are already getting paid.

[StClone]

26. Friend I totally agree with you

SCOTUS in NCAA v. Alston ruled the NCAA was operating college sports like an illegal cartel. I liked college sports over pro, as you seem to, the way it is with the athletes getting benefits of meals, housing, enhanced private tutoring, tuition. and more.

I hope the landscape does not change much, but if it goes to pay it could elicit a lot of undesirable unintended things which may make it unappealing to me.

[aggiesal]

27. I completely agree ...

They're already talking about the football side of things breaking away from the NCAA and possibly the Men's basketball as well, and then both teams keeping all the money that they make.

This means that there will be fewer dollars for all the other sports. And with Title IX, where money has to be divided evenly between men's and women's sports, there will be less opportunities for women, thus less scholarships.

Paying athletes will bring unintended consequences, in a big way.

NCAA over NBA (The NoBody cares. Association. Bad basketball played poorly). Can you tell I don't watch the NBA?
High end NCCA is just as entertaining as NFL. Sometime better.
The one thing that I like most about the NCAA football, is that every game counts. Go Irish!

[old guy]

15. I'm with you.

[Escurumbele]

18. Agree with everything you wrote 100%. As I said in my entry, it is a Pandora's box

And like you pointed out, it will hurt a lot of these kids who think they will go pro but, no matter if they are good enough for a university to want them, they really are not pro quality.

I am not a pessimist, complete opposite, but I feel this will end really bad.

And like you, I agree that a full scholarship should suffice, making sure they keep their grades up, and for real not professors giving them the grade so they can continue to play.

One thing I would support is to create a trust fund for the students which they can only take when the graduate successfully from college, that will help those who cannot make it into the pro life to get a good start.

Let us not forget that many professional American football players end up broke, they don't know how to manage their money, they get injured, they cannot play anymore and that is the end for them, they were never taught how to manage money, how to set a good path for the future, now they live in a one-room apartment and have drug and alcohol issues, plus the traumas of getting hit on the head.

[aggiesal]

20. I read your #16 response and this one I'm responding to, ...

I think we both agree.

Personally, I think that college education, all the way to doctorate, at state universities should be free whether you're an athlete or not. This benefits everyone!

[HUAJIAO]

19. Why should all college athletes get a full ride and not all violinists and trombone players?

[bucolic_frolic]

6. The hierarchical pyramid gets taller

Injecting Darwinism and money further into college. Tenure, endowed faculty Chairs, opulent buildings named for and bought by wealthy alumni is not enough. I guess education was already about intellect over average, incentive over equality, the triumph of power over the weak. So let's reinforce it with the goodies. Quincy Adams Wagstaff would be proud but have a pithy snark to describe it.

[samsingh]

13. i think this ruling help minorities playing in amateur sports

[PoliticAverse]

7. So it's not everyone but the athletes can make money off the athletes now? n/t

[Mike Nelson]

8. Hmm...

... I expect those who excel in academics or the arts are likewise paid. A superb mathematician, dancer, or writer should receive payments too... and Congratulations to all!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

10. I can't believe Kavanaugh would embrace Critical Race Theory like this smh

Kevin M. Kruse Retweeted

I can’t believe Kavanaugh would embrace Critical Race Theory like this smh

Link to tweet

[TygrBright]

21. Remind me again what sports have to do with acquiring advanced knowledge...?

...which is theoretically the purpose of higher education.

No University "needs" an athletic department and/or sports teams to pass on the knowledge required in any academic discipline.

Higher education athletic/sports grew from the perception that providing students with physical recreation opportunities improved their well-being and therefore their academic performance.

Had it remained at the "recreational" level there would still be a legitimate place for them.

Now, however, it has become such a big business that some team coaches make more than academic department heads, chancellors or even the institution's titular head. Institutional fundraising and endowment building has become almost entirely dependent on athletic department performance, alumni participation and support for athletic activity, etc.

None of which really does much to produce a higher level of academic offerings or result in greater academic accomplishment among students and graduates.

Any sport that wants to be televised, etc. and develop young players should have the equivalent of a "farm" system, and leave higher education to... well... educate.

::dons asbestos knickers::

Flame away.

wryly,
Bright

[twodogsbarking]

28. Costs of paying athletes will be recouped by increasing your cable bill,

like they do now with pro sports.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

29. NCAA athletes get unanimous win on education perks as Kavanaugh calls out ban on direct pay

OPINION ANALYSIS

NCAA athletes get unanimous win on education perks as Kavanaugh calls out ban on direct pay
By Amy Howe on June 21 at 8:23 p.m.

The court’s ruling on Monday in NCAA v. Alston invalidated the NCAA’s limits on “education-related” benefits, and Justice Kavanaugh suggested that the ban on direct compensation to athletes may be on deck.



{snip}

Recommended Citation: Amy Howe, NCAA athletes win 9-0 on educational perks as Kavanaugh calls out ban on direct payments, SCOTUSblog (Jun. 21, 2021, 8:23 PM), https://www.scotusblog.com/2021/06/ncaa-athletes-get-unanimous-win-on-educational-perks-as-kavanaugh-calls-out-limits-on-direct-payments/

[BumRushDaShow]

30. "Kavanaugh suggested that the ban on direct compensation to athletes may be on deck"

That's gonna cause some hand-wringing because the next logical step would be for the athletes to demand a percentage of the billions in revenue these schools take in for broadcast rights and other things.

I.e., from the NCAA itself -

(snip)

The total athletics revenue reported among all NCAA athletics departments in 2019 was $18.9 billion. Of that amount, approximately $10.6 billion (56%) was generated revenue by the athletics departments, leaving nearly $8.3 billion (44%) that had to be subsidized by other sources at schools across the Association, such as institutional support and student fees.

https://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/research/finances-intercollegiate-athletics

Bread and circuses.

[Maxheader]

31. Why not just give them a diploma..

right upfront...eliminate all that nasty bookwork. ...