“Earthquake”: Board of Regents v. NCAA
“Earthquake”: Board of Regents v. NCAA
This chapter discusses the case of Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma v. National Collegiate Athletic Association. Arguments in the case focused on whether the NCAA was acting illegally under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 by monopolizing all college football television contracts. In September 1982, Judge Juan Burciaga of the Federal District Court for Western Oklahoma decided in favor of the plaintiffs, concluding that the NCAA was a “classic cartel. ... exercising almost absolute control over the supply of college football which is made available to the networks, to television advertisers, and ultimately to the viewing public.” The judge concluded that the NCAA violated antitrust law by acting in restraint of trade in three ways: fixing prices of telecasts; creating boycotts of networks excluded from its contracts and threatening boycotts of its own members that might engage in alternative television contracts; and placing an artificial limit on televised college football. The NCAA took the case to the Supreme Court. However, on June 27, 1984, the Supreme Court upheld verdicts of the District and Appeals Courts.
Keywords: NCAA, American college sports, University of Oklahoma, college football, football television contracts, 1980 Sherman Anti-Trust Act, antitrust law
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