NCAA and Major Conferences Face New Antitrust Lawsuit

A lawyer representing four college athletes on Monday filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA and its five largest conferences, asserting that players’ compensation had been illegally capped at the value of an athletic scholarship, ESPN reported.

The lawsuit, which is a proposed class action, is seeking an injunction to stop the NCAA from enforcing the caps. The complaint accuses the NCAA of improperly fixing athletes’ compensation and therefore restricting competition for their services on the open market.

The case is similar to another antitrust suit, filed this month, that challenged the NCAA’s scholarship limits and sought damages for the difference between the scholarships and the full cost of attendance. The new suit does not seek class-action damages, according to USA Today, but instead seeks an injunction that would threaten the NCAA’s amateurism model. The NCAA did not immediately comment to ESPN on the lawsuit.