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Article
The Jocks and the Justice: How Sotomayor Restrained College Athletes
Marquette Sports Law Review
  • Phillip J. Closius, University of Baltimore School of Law
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2016
Abstract

Two judicial opinions have shaped the modem college athletic world. NCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma declared the NCAA's exclusive control over the media rights to college football violated the Sherman Act. That decision allowed universities and conferences to control their own media revenue and laid the foundation for the explosion of coverage and income in college football today. Clarett v. NFL held that the provision then in the National Football League's (NFL) Constitution and By-Laws that prohibited players from being eligible for the NFL draft until three years from the date of their high school graduation was immune from Sherman Act liability because it was protected by the non-statutory labor law exemption. An earlier decision, Haywood v. NBA, declared the National Basketball Association's (NBA) age-based draft eligibility rule an illegal group boycott and a per se violation of the Sherman Act. Therefore, at the time of the Clarett decision, the NFL was the only professional league that had age-based eligibility rules.

Citation Information
Phillip J. Closius. "The Jocks and the Justice: How Sotomayor Restrained College Athletes" Marquette Sports Law Review Vol. 26 (2016) p. 493
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/phillip-closius/11/