College

Last month the NLRB issued an advice memorandum concerning the Northwestern football handbook, and the team’s unlawful social media rules. A footnote in the memo assumes for the purposes of the memo that Northwestern’s scholarship football players are employees. This memo was one person assuming an employee status in a limited circumstance, not a reversal of last year’s NLRB ruling, and is still miles away from the NLRB declaring student-athletes to be employees.

In a relatively unsurprising decision, the Supreme Court has denied petitions for both the NCAA and Ed O’Bannon in one of the landmark cases for the collegiate model. Overall, while both sides petitioned for cert, this is a pretty favorable result for the NCAA.

Following the latest allegations, Baylor University conducted an external review of the institution’s handling of Title IX (and related) issues, which culminated in the release of a very damning report. This Title IX inquiry uncovered flaws in the senior leadership’s actions and Baylor’s student conduct process, and even staff members acting to hinder or discourage reporting acts of sexual assault or dating violence. With apparent involvement from athletics staff members to cover for football players, Baylor could be facing rather significant penalties from the NCAA.

After facing an onslaught of litigation on almost every possible amateurism restriction, the NCAA now faces another lawsuit. The newest suit targets restrictions on Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) student-athlete transfers and scholarship limits.

Last night, Duke’s Grayson Allen appeared to intentionally trip an opponent for the second time in less than 3 weeks. Can the ACC suspend him? Will they?

The United States District Court for the Southern Division of Indiana ruled on Berger vs. NCAA, in what was a very interesting, if unheralded decision. This particular case involved the questions of whether or not student-athletes are employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act and if so, whether or not the NCAA and its membership institutions were violating the FLSA by failing to pay the student athletes minimum wage.

Initial eligibility is a good idea in principle that currently faces many flaws. The process is great in hindsight but doesn't allow much time to correct deficiencies, and is especially hard on international prospects. While academic certification is far from perfect for a small number of freshman student-athletes, a few simple changes might make initial eligibility exponentially better.

College football season is in full swing, and that means a renewed interest in collegiate players trademarking their names and nicknames as well as increased conversation about pay-for-play. Unfortunately for players and proponents of compensating student-athletes, the Ninth Circuit’s decision in O’Bannon firmly shut the door on the possibility of the Olympic model.

On Wednesday, September 30, 2015, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion on the NCAA’s appeal of O’Bannon vs. NCAA. The decision was a massive win for the NCAA, and for a number of reasons, the decision was a massive defeat for proponents seeking increased compensation for student athletes.

On Monday, August 17, 2015, the National Labor Relations Board ruled against Northwestern football players on athletic scholarship, preventing them from forming a union. First, this decision did not rule as to whether or not they considered the student-athletes employees. What the NLRB decided is that it would decline jurisdiction on the matter, for not falling within the confines of the National Labor Relations Act.