NCAA fumbles at Supreme Court

Collegiate sports programs can’t pay student-athletes, but they can offer other perks such as buying them laptops or musical instruments. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan on Tuesday denied the NCAA’s emergency request to block colleges from giving athletes unlimited educational benefits. The NCAA plans to petition the court by October to review the case.

How did the lawsuit start? West Virginia University running back Shawne Alston sued the NCAA in 2014, arguing that denying students compensation violated antitrust law. In 2019, a federal judge ruled in favor of Alston, and an appeals court agreed earlier this year. Jeffrey Kessler, the lead attorney for Alston, said the change is inevitable: “Sooner or later the athletes will get these benefits and the world will move forward.”

Dig deeper: Read Sharon Dierberger’s report about the NCAA allowing student-athletes to profit from the use of their names and likenesses.