The NCAA's new NIL plan "relies on something that it’s far from certain to obtain: an antitrust exemption from the U.S. Congress," according to Higgins & Radnofsky of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The NCAA has "ended up on the wrong side of the last two high-profile court battles over its remuneration rules." The "latest defeat" came yesterday in a case brought by former West Virginia RB Shawne Alston and other D-I athletes. It is clear that the NCAA will "only be able to write the rules the way it wants if it can get an exemption from antitrust laws." It also is "clear that its antagonists are unwilling to see that happen." The NCAA has said that it would require athletes to "disclose the terms of their endorsements deals via a clearinghouse that could be run by the NCAA, university compliance officials or a third party." Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman, co-Chair of the NCAA working group charged with creating the plan, said that the group "hadn’t decided who might oversee the mechanism and whether it will be able to void a deal deemed excessive or corrupt." Aides to U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), who heads the Senate Commerce Committee, said that he "planned to work with the Senate Judiciary Committee 'to address the antitrust issue as it relates to NIL' and that he 'will consider the merits of all proposals on the table'" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 5/19).
