On June 21st, 2021, the United States Supreme Court powerfully delivered a long-overdue course correction to the NCAA in its 37 year-long (post-Board of Regents) imperial march through the federal judiciary. While the Court was not asked to put amateurism out of its misery for good, it rejected the NCAA’s core argument(s) that the NCAA was entitled to absolute judicially created antitrust immunity. In short, the Court told the NCAA it was not above the law. This episode analyzes the Alston decision as a historic—yet symbolic—normative reframe of the NCAA’s fundamental relationship with the laborers whose talents underwrite the NCAA administrative state and the college sports industry writ large.

The countdown continues… In this episode I reveal items 5, 4, and 3 on my Top Ten list. Enjoy!

What were the most important events in college sports in this remarkable—perhaps historic—year of 2021? Let’s start the countdown. In this episode, I reveal in reverse chronological order numbers 10 through 6. I also toss in some honorable mentions at the beginning of the episode to set the tone. Enjoy!

This week, the US Supreme declined to hear the Gatto appeal, which marks the end of the legal proceedings arising from the 2017-2018 college basketball “scandal.” In this episode, I discuss the impact of those prosecutions and whether they should have been brought in the first place. I focus on 2nd Circuit judge Gerard Lynch’s dissenting opinion in which he subtly questions the wisdom of pursuing these cases. Judge Lynch beautifully captures the essence of the hypocrisy in big-time college sports.