Opinion ID: 4535062
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: allow the [NCAA] to continue to limit

Text: compensation and benefits unrelated to education; (3) enjoin NCAA limits on most compensation and benefits that are related to education, but allow it to limit education- related academic or graduation awards and incentives, as long as the limits are not lower than its limits on athletic performance awards now or in the future.10 Id. The court enumerated specific education-related benefits that the NCAA would be unable to prohibit or limit under the LRA: “computers, science equipment, musical instruments and other items not currently included in the [COA] but nonetheless related to the pursuit of various academic studies”; post-eligibility scholarships for undergraduate, graduate, and vocational programs at any school; tutoring; study-abroad expenses; and paid post-eligibility internships. Id. at 1088. The district court explained that this LRA would permit some NCAA regulation of cash graduation or academic awards because these payments could otherwise morph into professional-like salaries. Id. It instructed that the cap on such awards should not fall below the existing limit on aggregate athletic participation awards (currently, $5,600), as receipt of the latter “has been shown not to decrease 10 The district court found that the current aggregate limit on such awards is $5,600. Id. at 1072, 1099. IN RE NCAA ATHLETIC GRANT-IN-AID CAP ANTITRUST LITIG. 27 consumer demand and not to be inconsistent with the NCAA’s understanding of amateurism.” Id. Under this LRA, individual conferences may continue to limit all payment types because “no individual conference dominates nearly the entire market, like the NCAA does.” Id. The district court further reasoned that this LRA would not “greatly impact[]” the NCAA’s “latitude to superintend college sports,” as it “would affect only a small fraction of [its] rulemaking jurisdiction.” Id. The district court concluded that this LRA would be virtually as effective as the challenged rules at preserving student-athletes’ status as students (and thus demand), analogizing it to the LRA affirmed in O’Bannon II: Both require the NCAA to permit members “to cover legitimate education-related costs.” Id. at 1105 (citing O’Bannon II, 802 F.3d at 1075). Finally, it determined that, far from resulting in significantly increased costs, the LRA’s elimination of a category of rules would decrease the NCAA’s enforcement costs. Id. at 1090–91, 1105.