How the most recent Supreme Courtroom ruling might influence the scholar athlete compensation battle

N. Jeremi Duru, American University Law School:

Well, John, it’s another skirmish in what you say is a long fight.

A century ago college athletics was a circumstance where there were athletes who were really student athletes who got nothing for their work. And they had very little industry around work or play, around the game.

But what we’ve seen over the course of a decade is that an industry has developed around college sports. So you have billions in broadcasting contracts and multi-million dollar salaries for the commissioners of the coaching conference. And student athletes are prevented from receiving compensation.

And they have been arguing for several decades, we would like our piece of the pie. And they have filed lawsuits under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the National Labor Relations Act, and antitrust lawsuits. And they were mostly unsuccessful.

And that’s a win for them. And so it adds a chapter that suggests we are moving towards a world where student activists will prevail.