In a spacious hospitality center overlooking UNC’s football fields, a group of law students, lawyers and scholars gathered to discuss a recent court case that could fundamentally reshape the relationship between universities and their student-athletes.
“The Effects of O’Bannon v. NCAA,” co-hosted by the UNC Law Sports and Entertainment Law Association (SELA) and the Campbell Sports and Entertainment Law Society at Kenan Stadium’s BlueZone on Sept. 10, highlighted the changing landscape of the law surrounding college athletics.
More than 100 attendees, including law students from multiple universities, undergraduates, practitioners and faculty, attended the event. The main feature was a panel discussion on an ongoing antitrust class action lawsuit against the National College Athletic Association (NCAA) alleging that the group’s rules prohibiting universities from paying athletes for the use of their image violates anti-trust statues. In August 2014, a district court judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of California found in favor of the plaintiffs, giving student-athletes the possibility of compensation for the first time. The NCAA has already appealed the decision on multiple grounds.
The panel featured ESPN commentator Jay Bilas, also a practicing attorney at the law firm Moore & Van Allen, UNC Sports Administration professor Barbara Osbourne, Campbell University law professor Ken Hammer, and Paul Pogge, a UNC Assistant Athletics Director.
The panelists hotly disagreed on both the reasoning in the O’Bannon case as well as the underlying structure of college athletics.
“I don’t think any reasonable person could argue that this is not a multi-billion dollar business that is professional in every way except in how we pay the athletes,” said Bilas, who also characterized other aspects of NCAA policy as being cartel-like behavior.
Other panelists disagreed with Bilas’ comments.
“I think the NCAA does a lousy job of defending their model — that is not to say that the model isn’t worth defending,” said Osbourne.
-September 15, 2014