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Page Number: 34.0

30  NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSN. v. ALSTON 

Opinion of the Court 

NCAA  had  not  adopted  any  consistent  definition.    Id.,  at 
1070.  Instead, the court found, the NCAA’s rules and re-
strictions  on  compensation  have  shifted  markedly  over
time.  Id.,  at  1071–1074.  The  court  found,  too,  that  the 
NCAA adopted these restrictions without any reference to
“considerations of consumer demand,” id., at 1100, and that 
some were “not necessary to preserve consumer demand,” 
id., at 1075, 1080, 1104.  None of this is product redesign; it
is a straightforward application of the rule of reason. 

C 
Finally,  the  NCAA  attacks  as  “indefensible”  the  lower 
courts’  holding  that  substantially  less  restrictive  alterna-
tives  exist  capable  of  delivering  the  same  procompetitive
benefits as its current rules.  Brief for Petitioner in No. 20– 
512, at 46.  The NCAA claims, too, that the district court’s 
injunction threatens to “micromanage” its business.  Id., at 
50. 

Once more, we broadly agree with the legal principles the
NCAA  invokes.  As  we  have  discussed,  antitrust  courts 
must give wide berth to business judgments before finding 
liability.  See supra, at 15–19.  Similar considerations apply
when it comes to the remedy.  Judges must be sensitive to
the possibility that the “continuing supervision of a highly 
detailed  decree”  could  wind  up  impairing  rather  than  en-
hancing competition.  Trinko, 540 U. S., at 415.  Costs asso-
ciated with ensuring compliance with judicial decrees may
exceed efficiencies gained; the decrees themselves may un-
intentionally suppress procompetitive innovation and even 
facilitate collusion.  See supra, at 26–27.  Judges must be
wary,  too,  of  the  temptation  to  specify  “the  proper  price,
quantity, and other terms of dealing”—cognizant that they 
are  neither  economic  nor  industry  experts.  Trinko,  540 
U. S., at 408.  Judges must be open to reconsideration and 
modification  of  decrees  in  light  of  changing  market  reali-