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18  NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSN. v. ALSTON 

Opinion of the Court 

(and in fact do) harm competition.  See D. Ct. Op., at 1067. 
Unlike customers who would look elsewhere when a small 
van company raises its prices above market levels, the dis-
trict court found (and the NCAA does not here contest) that
student-athletes have nowhere else to sell their labor.  Even 
if the NCAA is a joint venture, then, it is hardly of the sort 
that would warrant quick-look approval for all its myriad 
rules and restrictions. 

Nor does the NCAA’s status as a particular type of ven-
ture categorically exempt its restraints from ordinary rule 
of reason review.  We do not doubt that some degree of co-
ordination between competitors within sports leagues can 
be  procompetitive.  Without  some  agreement  among  ri-
vals—on things like how many players may be on the field
or  the  time  allotted  for  play—the  very  competitions  that 
consumers value would not be possible.  See Board of Re-
gents, 468 U. S., at 101 (quoting R. Bork, The Antitrust Par-
adox  278  (1978)).  Accordingly,  even  a  sports  league  with
market power might see some agreements among its mem-
bers win antitrust approval in the “ ‘twinkling of an eye.’ ”  
American Needle, 560 U. S., at 203. 

But  this  insight  does  not  always  apply.    That  some  re-
straints are necessary to create or maintain a league sport 
does not mean all “aspects of elaborate interleague cooper-
ation are.”  Id., at 199, n. 7.  While a quick look will often
be enough to approve the restraints “necessary to produce
a game,” ibid., a fuller review may be appropriate for oth-
ers.  See, e.g., Chicago Professional Sports Ltd. Partnership 
v. National Basketball Assn., 95 F. 3d 593, 600 (CA7 1996) 
(“Just as the ability of McDonald’s franchises to coordinate
the release of a new hamburger does not imply their ability 
to  agree  on  wages  for  counter  workers,  so  the  ability  of 
sports teams to agree on a TV contract need not imply an
ability to set wages for players”). 

The NCAA’s rules fixing wages for student-athletes fall
on the far side of this line.  Nobody questions that Division