OAKLAND, Calif. — Minutes after a hearing began Thursday regarding two cases that challenge college sports’ amateur model, Judge Claudia Wilken, unprompted, addressed the elephant in the room.
“The Ninth Circuit is looking out for us by having its opinion come out yesterday,” she said with a smile.
She was referring to the finding Wednesday by a panel of the United States Court of Appeals that N.C.A.A. rules barring payment to some athletes are subject to antitrust law.
In doing so, the panel affirmed Wilken’s opinion from last year, although two of its three judges struck down her ruling that the N.