A group of states and star college athletes on Thursday lodged a pair of new antitrust lawsuits against the National Collegiate Athletic Association, ramping up legal pressure on the organization as it is already facing billions of dollars in potential liability over curbs on players.
A proposed class of college athletes sued in California court to strike down all of the NCAA's rules that bar athletes from being compensated for their athletic roles.
"It will end the NCAA cartel," said Winston & Strawn's Jeffrey Kessler, who filed the California lawsuit with Steve Berman of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro.
Ohio and six other states, including New York, Illinois and North Carolina, separately sued the college sports governing body in West Virginia federal court over a student-transfer rule that can delay an athlete's eligibility to compete in games for a year.
The NCAA faces an array of student-athlete lawsuits over rules that include restrictions on compensation for the commercial use of some athletes' "name, image and likeness." Another case challenges the NCAA's rule that athletes must have "amateur" status.
The NCAA said in a statement on Thursday that it was "disappointed" by the states' lawsuit, which "could potentially mean team rosters changing monthly or weekly."
The NCAA had no immediate comment on the class action.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 2021 struck down NCAA restrictions on some education-related compensation and benefits for student athletes. In that case, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said the NCAA's broader compensation rules also could be vulnerable.
The NCAA later loosened some curbs on the ability of players to profit from advertising and merchandising deals with companies and other third parties but did not allow them to receive compensation from the NCAA and schools themselves.
Berman and Kessler are already representing a class of athletes in "name, image and likeness" litigation in California that seeks more than $1.3 billion in damages. College athletes are permitted to make deals with third parties that name or depict them.
In their new case, the plaintiffs are DeWayne Carter, who plays football for Duke University; Stanford University's Nya Harrison, who plays soccer for the school; and Sedona Prince, who attends Texas Christian University and competes for the school's women's basketball team.
"In college sports, only the athletes are treated as 'amateurs,'" the lawsuit said. "Everyone else involved enjoys the compensation that results from unrestrained competition for the athletes' services."
The students' lawsuit seeks triple damages under U.S. antitrust law, and an injunction barring the NCAA from enforcing rules restricting compensation for athletes.
The seven states challenging the NCAA's "transfer eligibility" rule sued "to restore fairness, competition and the autonomy of college athletes in their educational pursuits," Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said in a statement.
The cases are DeWayne Carter et al v. National Collegiate Athletic Association et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California; and State of Ohio et al v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia, no case number assigned.
Read more:
NCAA faces new lawsuit over athletes' drive for compensation
US judge says NCAA athletes can pursue class actions seeking over $1.3 bln
NCAA hit with antitrust lawsuit in US court over 'amateurism' rules
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