In John Rock v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, Southern District of Indiana Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson refused to dismiss former Gardner-Webb University quarterback John Rock’s antitrust class action over the NCAA’s scholarship cap, holding that plaintiff’s amended complaint sufficiently defined a relevant market. Rock sued NCAA, alleging that NCAA’s former ban on multiyear scholarships and the “artificial” cap on scholarships constitute a concerted effort to thwart competition.
Judge Magnus-Stinson previously dismissed plaintiff’s complaint, holding that plaintiff’s definition of the relevant market was incomplete because it did not address scholarship opportunities for student athletes at non-NCAA colleges. Plaintiff thereafter amended his complaint to narrow the scope of the proposed class from NCAA student athletes who have been negatively affected by the association’s allegedly anti-competitive scholarship policies to Division I football players who have been negatively affected. The court held that the amended version of the complaint is now valid because the complaint narrowed the market to one sport with one division of the NCAA.
One Comment