WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday the NCAA can’t limit education-related benefits — like computers and paid internships — that colleges can offer their sports stars, a victory for athletes that could help open the door to further easing in the decades-old fight over paying student-athletes.

Schools recruiting top athletes can now offer tens of thousands of dollars in benefits that also include study-abroad programs and graduate scholarships. However, the case doesn’t decide whether students can simply be paid salaries for the benefits their efforts bring — measured in tens of millions for many universities.

The high court said specifically that NCAA limits on the education-related benefits that colleges can offer athletes who play Division I basketball and football violate antitrust laws.

That is important in the short term for students who may see schools competing for talent by sweetening their offers with a variety of education-related benefits. It’s also important in the long term because it sets the stage for future challenges to NCAA rules limiting athletes’ compensation.

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the court that the NCAA sought “immunity from the normal operation of the antitrust laws,” an argument the court rejected. Gorsuch said that allowing colleges and universities to offer “enhanced education-related benefits … may encourage scholastic achievement and allow student-athletes a measure of compensation more consistent with the value they bring to their schools.”

Under current NCAA rules, students cannot be paid, and the scholarship money a college can offer is capped at the cost of attending the school.

The NCAA had defended its rules as necessary to preserve the amateur nature of college sports, preventing a blurring of the line between them and professional teams, with colleges trying to lure talented athletes by offering over-the-top benefits. A lower court had upheld the limits on scholarships and cash awards.

Writing for only himself, Justice Brett Kavanaugh signaled where Monday’s decision may lead. He said there are “serious questions” about whether the NCAA’s other restrictions on compensating athletes can stand. Kavanaugh wrote that “traditions alone cannot justify the NCAA’s decision to build a massive money-raising enterprise on the backs of student athletes who are not fairly compensated.”

“Nowhere else in America can businesses get away with agreeing not to pay their workers a fair market rate on the theory that their product is defined by not paying their workers a fair market rate. … The NCAA is not above the law,” wrote Kavanaugh, who as a college student played on Yale’s junior varsity basketball team.

The case was brought by former athletes, including West Virginia football player Shawne Alston. It followed a separate, earlier lawsuit brought by athletes including former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon and NBA legends Oscar Robertson and Bill Russell where an appeals court concluded NCAA rules aren’t exempt from antitrust law. That case ended with the Supreme Court declining to weigh in.

As a result of Monday’s ruling, the NCAA itself can’t bar schools from offering Division I basketball and football players additional education-related benefits. But individual athletic conferences can still set limits if they choose.

“It is our hope that this victory in the battle for college athletes’ rights will carry on a wave of justice uplifting further aspects of athlete compensation,” said Steve Berman, an attorney for the former college athletes, in a statement following the ruling. “This is the fair treatment college athletes deserve.”

The court’s ruling comes at a time when the NCAA has already been debating how to amend its rules to allow college athletes to profit from their names, images and likenesses, often abbreviated NIL. That would allow athletes to earn money for sponsorship deals, online endorsement and personal appearances.

NCAA President Mark Emmert last week urged member schools to pass a long-stagnant names-and-images reform proposal before the end of the month. If they don’t, he will take action himself, he said.

Emmert told The Associated Press on Monday that the high court’s ruling makes going about the NIL reforms “more complicated” but “doesn’t mean we can’t and we shouldn’t.”

An NCAA governing body with the power to adopt changes is scheduled to meet this week. Meanwhile, six state laws that allow athletes to receive names-and-images compensation will go into effect July 1. The NCAA has asked Congress for help in the form of a federal law, but lawmakers are nowhere near passing legislation.

The players associations of the NFL, the NBA and the WNBA had all urged the justices to side with the ex-athletes, as did the Biden administration.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday of the athletes: The “decision recognizes that, as with all Americans, their hard work should not be exploited.”

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Is This The Right Move?

The State Legislature passed a bill last week that would allow Student-Athletes to get paid in the State of California. It went unopposed in the house and is heading to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s feet. Naturally, the NCAA isn’t happy about the bill because it directly affects their Golden Egg that they feel no one can touch. The NCAA is all about protecting their money and keeping their billion-dollar industry for themselves. They are the world’s largest mafia and are allowed to operate within their own rules with no one to police them. If you don’t agree or go against the grain, they throw you out and pick the next guy standing in line to take your place.

The first argument people will make when hearing about this is, “these athletes are paid, they are paid with an education,” although a statement like that holds some truth it also doesn’t shed light on the big picture. Education is not the reason why these kids attend school, nor is it the reason the schools offer scholarships to players. 

When playing a high-level sport at the college level, it is your full-time job and your priority. You put in 40+ hours a week practicing, working out, watching a film, or in treatment. That is separate from mandatory attendance in your classes and homework requirements for those classes. 

There is no time for these Student-Athletes to work part-time jobs and they shouldn’t be expected to. The university and the NCAA benefit off of them. It’s their skills, their work, their talent that gives the university recognition. If it weren’t for the players, there would be no market. For example, former UCLA point guard Lonzo Ball said when he first got to UCLA the stadium was empty. Students, Faculty, Alumni, and Fans were not showing up to the games. The games weren’t being nationally televised. When he was in High School, the gym was always packed with spectators. UCLA started winning, and people started to; show up to the games again, buy jerseys, and talk about the team. It wasn’t the university that did that; it was the players.

I don’t think the university should be able to pay these athletes millions of dollars, I don’t believe the NCAA or the universities should have to pay these athletes anything past their scholarship agreement, but what is wrong is taking money out of these kids pockets for your gain. The NCAA and Universities make money off the players every day, with jersey sales, TV deals, and endorsement deals. If a student-athlete tried to do any of these on their own, they would get suspended.

How is this fair? If your average college kid needs to make some extra money, he is allowed to; mow lawns, wash cars, or work a part-time job. How many college students start companies while in school and turn them into financially successful businesses? What the NCAA is doing to these student-athletes is telling them that they can’t make money for who they are. If there is an excellent player who has a social media following, brands like Nike should be allowed to pay them to endorse their products without affecting the eligibility of the athlete. The reason why universities don’t like this is that it takes money out of their own pockets. If they are an Adidas school, their star QB can’t wear Nike’s on Saturday, or they won’t get paid.

This should be illegal and considered slave labor. They are profiting off of kids names and likeness selling their jerseys, making video games out of them, selling their posters/pictures, signing deals with brands, getting paid for commercials, and many more things while literally making it against the rules for them to do the same thing off of themselves and if they get caught making money they will be suspended or kicked out of the program. The NCAA and Universities need to stop monetizing the opportunity for these athletes to make money and keep all of it for themselves. Players should be able to make any money that they can by using who they are as a person without it affecting their eligibility status.

I’m glad that California is taking the first steps to make this legal and hope more states begin following soon. 

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