Closing arguments were heard yesterday in the lawsuit
filed against the NCAA by former "restricted-earnings"
coaches, according to Steve Rock of the K.C. STAR. NCAA
attorney Alan Salpeter addressed the jury for "nearly" two
hours, admitting the NCAA "violated a law ... [b]ut it would
not be fair to make [them] pay tens of millions of dollars
to coaches who were not hurt by the rule." The plaintiffs
attorneys are asking for just under $30M in damages for more
than 1,900 coaches, a figure which came from George
Washington Univ. economics professor Robert Tollison.
Tollison constructed a "hypothetical free economic market"
in assessing damage amounts, and Salpeter attempted to
"discredit" Tollison's numbers, pointing to "12 Fatal
Flaws," among them the fact that Tollison included $8.9M in
damages after the earnings cap "had been lifted." Lori
Schultz, attorney for the coaches, said during her closing
statements that there is "nothing fair about an illegal
price cap." Rock adds that the jury's assessment "does not
have to detail" the amount owed each coach, but simply has
to make "a fair and reasonable estimate" (K.C. STAR, 4/29).
