US: Colleges to seek antitrust exemption amid NCAA suit

Unnamed sources say US universities could soon ask Congress to grant the NCAA antitrust exemption if efforts to ward off a legal attack on the sports association fail.

The NCAA is currently defending its business practices as a lawsuit is expected to see a ruling in just a few weeks over whether the NCAA should be required to financial compensate its athletes. The athletics group argues that its athletes are amateurs, the key distinction that allows the NCAA not to pay the players.

If that defense fails, reports say universities will ask Congress to grant the NCAA antitrust exemption.

The sources say, however, that the last-ditch effort would face significant opposition, especially as Major League Baseball’s century-old antitrust exemption has come under fire in recent months.

NCAA president Mark Emmert reportedly confirmed talk of seeking antitrust exemption.

Emmert recent said in an interview that if the NCAA loses the case and is forced to end its policy of considering its athletes as amateurs, it “would be th end of college sports as we know it.”

The lawsuit against the NCAA was filed by current and former NCAA athletes.

Full content: Wall Street Journal

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