A trial on whether NCAA rules violate federal antitrust law could be held in 2017, attorney
Jeffrey Kessler said last week.
U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken ruled earlier this month that Kessler’s firm, Winston & Strawn, as well as the law firms of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, and Pearson, Simon & Warshaw could represent all football players, as well as men’s and women’s basketball players, offered a grant-in-aid scholarship at an NCAA Division I school in a lawsuit against the NCAA.
Kessler’s case, Jenkins v. the NCAA, was seeking to represent only men’s basketball and football players, but as a result of that case being combined with Alston v. the NCAA and some other cases, women’s basketball players will also be represented in the trial, Kessler said. Although a court date and venue has not yet been determined, Kessler said he expects the issue to be tried in early 2017.
The plaintiffs allege the NCAA restricts the value of what universities can offer top high school football and basketball players. “The NCAA and its members award $2.7 billion in athletics scholarships every year to more than 150,000 student-athletes,” the NCAA said in a statement. “The plaintiffs continue to misconstrue and inaccurately portray these scholarships. As other federal court decisions have consistently stated, agreeing to appropriate limits on financial aid does not violate antitrust laws.”
Kessler noted that Wilken already ruled, and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, that NCAA compensation limits violate antitrust law.
“The only adjudication of their system was in O’Bannon, and in O’Bannon the system was found to be illegal and that illegality was affirmed by the 9th Circuit, so I am not sure what they are referring to about any court finding their system to be legal,” Kessler said.
Kessler said it was an important development that Wilken certified the class of players seeking an injunction to overturn the rules limiting how much schools could offer players. Kessler is seeking an injunction that would, if granted, create a free market system for schools to bid for star talent.
> THIRD CFB PLAYER SIGNS EARLY: University of Utah running back Devontae Booker has signed with Octagon, the third injured football player to sign with an agent before the end of the college season.
 |
Devontae Booker has signed with Octagon.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
|
Booker will be represented by
Jeremy Newberry,
Ken Landphere and
Mike Swenson.
Booker suffered a season-ending knee injury in Utah’s Nov. 14 loss to Arizona.
UCLA linebacker and running back Myles Jack signed with Octagon agent John Thornton and USC center Max Tuerk signed with Athletes First’s Brian Murphy and Joe Panos, both after their seasons were cut short by injury.
Newberry retired from the NFL, where he played center, in 2009 and joined Octagon, which represented him as a player, in 2010. He was certified by the NFL Players Association in 2012.
Newberry said he had been recruiting Booker for a year and noted that Booker could have come out for the NFL draft last year but stayed in school because he wanted to graduate. “He is graduating,” Newberry said. “His last test is tomorrow.”
Like Jack and Tuerk, Booker was a highly ranked draft prospect before his injury.
“He was — and remains — our top-rated senior running back,” said Rob Rang, CBS Sports senior NFL draft analyst. “The injury doesn’t dramatically drop his stock, assuming, of course, that he gets a clean bill of health from team doctors at the combine.”
Rang had him ranked as the No. 60 prospect overall, in the second round and behind junior running backs Ezekiel Elliott of Ohio State and Derrick Henry of Alabama.
> YOUNG RETURNS TO CAA: Outfielder Chris Young has returned to CAA Sports as a client, and CAA Baseball recently negotiated his two-year, $13 million deal with the Boston Red Sox.
Young is represented by a team of agents led by Jeff Berry.
Young was a CAA client but left for about two years. During that time he was represented by Reynolds Sports Management.
Young has played in the major leagues since 2006, most recently for the New York Yankees.
Liz Mullen can be reached at lmullen@sportsbusinessjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @SBJLizMullen.
