The Supreme Court’s 9-0 ruling against the NCAA, explained

Welcome to FTW Explains, a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world.

We had some big news today from the Supreme Court as it dealt a big blow to the NCAA by unanimously siding with a group of former athletes in a landmark antitrust case surrounding limited compensation by the NCAA, which makes billions of dollars from athletes while kicking them some crumbs along the way.

Let’s dig into this and find out what it all really means.

Is this a death blow to the NCAA? 

In a word, no. Well, not right now, at least. This does set up for some significant changes in the future.

ESPN had more details on this:

“It’s tremendous to win this 9-0. Hopefully it will be the major next step on the road to a true fair competitive system for these athletes. It should have positive effects immediately on NIL. We look forward to a world that’s better for college athletes today than it was yesterday,” Jeffrey Kessler, the plaintiffs’ attorney, told ESPN’s Dan Murphy.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh had a scathing message for the NCAA.

Kavanaugh tore into the NCAA, writing:

“Nowhere else in America can businesses get away with agreeing not to pay their workers a fair market rate on the theory that their product is defined by not paying their workers a fair market rate. And under ordinary principles of antitrust law, it is not evident why college sports should be any different. The NCAA is not above the law.”

You can read more about that here:

Does this mean players are going to get paid a salary now? 

No. This could, however, lead schools to paying athletes more money for educational purposes.

From USA Today Sports’ Steve Berkowitz:

The ruling will end the association’s nationwide limits on education-related benefits athletes can receive for playing college sports.

Athletes playing Division I men’s or women’s basketball or Bowl Subdivision football will be able to receive benefits from their schools that include cash or cash-equivalent awards based on academics or graduation.

Among the other benefits that schools also can offer are scholarships to complete undergraduate or graduate degrees at any school and paid internships after athletes have completed their collegiate sports eligibility.

We’ll have to continue to see how this plays out but this seems like it could lead to some great news for college athletes who make their schools and the NCAA lots of money.