A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld on Wednesday a federal judge’s finding last year that the N.C.A.A. “is not above antitrust laws” and that its rules have been too restrictive in maintaining amateurism. But the panel threw out the judge’s proposal that N.C.A.A. members should pay athletes $5,000 per year in deferred compensation, stating that compensation for the cost of attendance was sufficient.
“The N.C.A.A. is not above the antitrust laws, and courts cannot and must not shy away from requiring the N.C.A.A. to play by the Sherman Act’s rules,” the three-person panel wrote in what is known as the O’Bannon case.