New Amateurism

This Article proposes a new model for the legal and economic relationship between college athletes and their schools. The National Collegiate Athletic Association and its member conferences and schools are besieged with legal challenges over rules that restrain the capacity of athletes to earn compensation for their athletic labor and the commercial value of their identities. The legal challenges are extensive and scrutinize membership rules under labor, employment, and antitrust laws. The days of “amateurism” and the “student-athlete” enjoying judicial and administrative deference are over.

For college sports to maintain a character distinct from professional leagues, university athletic programs that feature de facto pro teams and those that rely on students who play a sport should be formally separated.