New O’Bannon Ruling Consistent with My NCAA Antitrust Research

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals turned down Ed O’Bannon’s request for more damages in a landmark antitrust case against the NCAA. In Courts and the Future of ‘Athletic Labor’ in College Sports (click here for more), my study found that in 82 state and federal court rulings from 1973 to 2014 students won 50% of first-round court rulings, but the NCAA won 71% of second-round cases. That pattern has been essentially replicated here with O’Bannon’s losing appeal. I concluded in Arizona Law Review (May 2015): “The occasional first-round student victory means that the NCAA will be pressured to adopt a radically new model of amateurism that mimics the employment relationship.” Ditto for the O’Bannon case. The lawsuit made a huge impact on D-I college athletics by pressuring NCAA D-I reforms such as full cost-of-attendance and paid meals and snacks for athletes. But that is a far cry from the pay-for-images remedy (a proxy for pay-for-play) that O’Bannon and fellow plaintiffs wanted. At the end of the day, the NCAA is a voluntary association with its own rules and bylaws-- and courts are loathe to tell associations in general how to run their affairs. If there are doubts, just try to get your homeowners association to lower its fees and assessments by taking the group to court.