An appellate court "granted a stay on Friday of a federal judge’s ruling last year that NCAA rules preventing athletes from making money from college sports broadcasts and video games violated antitrust law," according to Tracy & Strauss of the N.Y. TIMES. The stay "is at least a temporary reprieve for the NCAA and its decades-old rules barring payments to athletes." Without it, the NCAA "would have faced a new reality on Saturday in which colleges theoretically could have offered recruits unregulated money, or the association could have set a cap on such compensation." There is "no timetable for a ruling from the appellate court," but the judges "specifically noted that the stay was not an indication of how they might ultimately decide the case." The stay "could mean the court is trying to reach consensus or work through complicated issues." Had the court not acted at all, Judge Claudia Wilken’s ruling "would have gone into effect Saturday, marking a new era for college sports." Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany on Friday said the NCAA BOG and the D-I Council had been meeting all week in anticipation of a ruling “to talk about the changes that may be necessary” (N.Y. TIMES, 8/1). In S.F., Bob Egelko wrote under the header, "NCAA Gets Reprieve From Having To Pay Athletes" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 8/1).
