In what could portend a victory for the college sports establishment and defenders of its amateur model, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Friday granted a one-week stay of a federal judge’s finding last year in the so-called O’Bannon case, which found that N.C.A.A. rules preventing athletes from making money off television broadcasts and video games that feature the athletes violated antitrust law.
The appellate court specifically noted that the granting of the stay did not indicate which party might ultimately prevail, though Michael Hausfeld, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, indicated in an interview recently that he would view it as bad news for his case.