The Supreme Court ruled Monday that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) went too far in blocking some education-related aid for student athletes.
The decision comes as athletes struggle to preserve amateur status.
According to reports, the court said the NCAA violated antitrust laws when it limited the amount students could receive for musical instruments, scientific equipment, postgraduate scholarships, tutoring, academic awards and paid internships.
Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the court, said U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken was correct in dismissing the organization's argument that antitrust law doesn't apply to the case based on "an exhaustive factual record, a thoughtful legal analysis consistent with established antitrust principles, and a healthy dose of judicial humility."
Justice Brett Kavanaugh concurred, saying the “NCAA a n d its member colleges are suppressing the pay of student athletes who collectively generate billions of dollars in revenues for colleges every year. Those enormous sums of money flow to seemingly everyone except for student athletes.”
“The NCAA’s business model would be flatly illegal in almost any other industry in America," Kavanaugh wrote. "All of the restaurants in a region cannot come together to cut cooks’ wages on the theory that ‘customers prefer’ to eat food from lowpaid cooks.”
The Supreme Court's ruling did not, however, address the contentious issue of whether student athletes can be p a i d salaries or get other forms of compensation. T h e NCAA said it would consider this month whether student athletes can be compensated for the use of their names and images, which could allow them to benefit from endorsements and social media marketing.
"While today’s decision preserves the lower court ruling, it also reaffirms the NCAA’s authority to adopt reasonable rules and repeatedly notes that the NCAA remains free to articulate what are and are not truly educational benefits, consistent with the NCAA’s mission to support student-athletes," the organization said in a statement.