Antitrust and the NCAA Cartel

I have a piece up about last week’s NCAA ruling. The opinion is somewhat odd, in that it methodically demolishes the feebleness of the NCAA’s justifications for exploitation, and then pulls its punches by not even going as far as the modest alternatives proposed by the plaintiffs. But I’m cautiously optimistic that this is one blow against a foundation that’s ultimately going to collapse.

To expand on one point, I am glad that the judge saw through the NCAA’s citation of public opinion surveys purporting to show that if the coaches and administrators aren’t allowed to keep the money for the good of the players, fans will lose interest. This is what one might call the XFL fallacy. Remember that? Vince McMahon built a whole league based around talking talk-radio bullshit at face value — stop coddling the players! Stop protecting the quarterbacks! We want ordinary guys making almost no money, like in that movie about a scab team that showed that Gene Hackman has no reject pile! Predictions that people will lose interest in the NCAA if players can endorse products will work out about as well as the XFL did. It’s easy to say that you care about this stuff, but in practice nobody does.