New Antitrust Lawsuit Against NCAA Seeks Millions in Damages
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The attorneys who beat the NCAA in the Supreme Court have now filed a new class-action antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA and the five wealthiest college sports conferences. The lawsuit seeks millions of dollars in damages for thousands of athletes and the case was filed in the Northern District of California, known for handling significant college sports cases.
The named plaintiffs in the lawsuit are former Oklahoma State running back Chuba Hubbard, who currently plays for the Carolina Panthers, and former Auburn track athlete Keira McCarrell. However, the lawsuit aims to secure triple damages for all current and former Division I athletes dating back to 2018.
The defendants named in the lawsuit are the NCAA, the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, and Southeastern Conference.
The lawsuit stems from a 2019 ruling in the Alston case, which allowed schools to provide academic benefits of nearly $6,000 to college athletes. The NCAA appealed the ruling but ultimately lost in the Supreme Court in 2021. The current lawsuit seeks to recover monetary awards that athletes were illegally deprived of by the NCAA, especially in relation to education-related compensation.
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The attorneys leading the lawsuit, Steve Berman and Jeffrey Kessler, were also involved in the Alston case. They argue that while the Alston ruling brought significant benefits to NCAA Division I athletes going forward, it did not address the harm suffered by those who were unlawfully prevented from receiving education-related compensation before the injunction was issued. The plaintiffs are seeking triple damages for these injuries.
Berman and Kessler also have another ongoing case against the NCAA, called House vs. the NCAA, which aims to obtain damages dating back to 2016 for athletes who were denied the ability to earn money from their names, images, and likenesses. This case also asserts that college athletes should be allowed to share in the revenue generated by the NCAA and its media rights deals.
The NCAA has a history of losing lawsuits in the Northern District of California, including a 2014 ruling that challenged the association's use of college athletes' names, images, and likenesses for commercial purposes. The NCAA lifted its ban on athletes being compensated for sponsorship and endorsement deals in 2021 following the Supreme Court's ruling in the Alston case.
Apart from this lawsuit, the NCAA is also facing a separate legal threat in Pennsylvania, where a federal lawsuit seeks to classify college athletes as employees of their schools, potentially leading to significant ramifications.
