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Page Number: 10.0

6 

NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSN. v. ALSTON 

Opinion of the Court 

riae 10.  In 2014, the NCAA “announced it would allow ath-
letic  conferences  to  authorize  their  member  schools  to  in-
crease  scholarships  up  to  the  full  cost  of  attendance.” 
O’Bannon  v.  National  Collegiate  Athletic  Assn.,  802  F. 3d 
1049, 1054–1055 (CA9 2015).  The 80 member schools of the 
“Power  Five”  athletic  conferences—the  conferences  with 
the highest revenue in Division I—promptly voted to raise 
their scholarship limits to an amount that is generally sev-
eral thousand dollars higher than previous limits.  D. Ct. 
Op., at 1064. 

In recent years, changes have continued.  The NCAA has 
created the “Student Assistance Fund” and the “Academic 
Enhancement Fund” to “assist student-athletes in meeting 
financial  needs,”  “improve  their  welfare  or  academic  sup-
port,”  or  “recognize  academic  achievement.”  Id.,  at  1072. 
These  funds  have  supplied  money  to  student-athletes  for 
“postgraduate scholarships” and “school supplies,” as well 
as “benefits that are not related to education,” such as “loss-
of-value  insurance  premiums,”  “travel  expenses,”  “cloth-
ing,” and “magazine subscriptions.”  Id., at 1072, n. 15.  In 
2018,  the  NCAA  made  more  than  $84  million  available 
through  the  Student  Activities  Fund  and  more  than  $48 
million  available  through  the  Academic  Enhancement 
Fund.  Id., at 1072.  Assistance may be provided in cash or 
in kind, and there is no limit to the amount any particular
student-athlete may receive.  Id., at 1073.  Since 2015, dis-
bursements  to  individual  students  have  sometimes  been 
tens  of  thousands  of  dollars  above  the  full  cost  of  attend-
ance.  Ibid. 

The NCAA has also allowed payments “ ‘incidental to ath-
letics participation,’ ” including awards for “participation or
achievement in athletics” (like “qualifying for a bowl game”)
and  certain  “payments  from  outside  entities”  (such  as  for
“performance in the Olympics”).  Id., at 1064, 1071, 1074. 
The NCAA permits its member schools to award up to (but 
no  more  than)  two  annual  “Senior  Scholar  Awards”  of