Aug 22, 2015 at 11:57a ET
Aug 22, 2015 at 11:57a ET
ATLANTA (AP) Fresh off a ruling that Northwestern University football players can't form a union, the NCAA is about to face a more direct challenge to its longstanding policy of not letting schools pay athletes like they're professionals.
A federal judge who issued a landmark decision against the NCAA last year is considering whether to grant class-action status to lawsuits by current and former college athletes seeking to abolish the NCAA's prohibition against competitively paying players. Taken together, the cases carry billion-dollar implications and hinge, essentially, on whether the concepts of amateur athleticism and economic competition can co-exist.