College sports is in flux.
In 2021, the Supreme Court decision NCAA v. Alston unanimously found that the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s restrictions on education-related compensation for student athletes violated antitrust laws. The NCAA, which oversees athletics at about 1,100 American colleges and universities, has limited the compensation available to student athletes, allegedly in an attempt to preserve the amateur nature of college athletics.
That’s not the only threat facing the NCAA. Last year, the organization approved a settlement that could reshape college athletics even more dramatically. The multibillion-dollar settlement would compensate athletes for their lack of compensation for their name, image and likeness. The settlement would cover athletes who played as far back as 2016.
There’s a lot of money on the table – per ESPN, the NCAA inked $1.3 billion in revenue for the 2022-2023 season. Over $900 million of those revenues come from the broadcast rights for the Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, better known as March Madness. As the NCAA is a nonprofit organization, much of those revenues flow back to the schools, especially top-tier Division I schools.
These are sea changes that could upend college athletics. Docket Alarm analytics can show what other litigation threats are approaching the NCAA.
The vast majority of lawsuits brought against the NCAA are tagged as personal injury cases. Many of these are clustered around summer 2020 and 2021. Many of these cases relate to In Re National Collegiate Athletic Association Student-Athlete Concussion Injury Litigation, a massive case that settled in 2019. Many of these cases are seeking to be added to the case in order to take advantage of the settlement. Beyond personal injury, the next most frequent case type is anti-trust.
While this multidistrict case is in the past, as the role of student-athletes changes, the organization could still face personal injury cases related to athletics.
The top law firms representing the NCAA is Latham & Watkins, followed by Wilkinson Steklof and Hogan Lovells. Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr represented the association before the Supreme Court of the United States.
