Chris Sagers, the James A. Thomas Distinguished Professor of Law, organized and wrote an amicus brief on behalf of himself and twenty-five other prominent professors of antitrust and sports law, supporting the plaintiffs in O’Bannon v. NCAA. In that case, a plaintiff class of student athletes won Sherman Act injunction against NCAA rules precluding them from sharing in certain licensing revenues.  The brief supports plaintiffs in the NCAA’s appeal before the Ninth Circuit, arguing that the trial court adequately explained a finding of liability under the so-called “rule of reason” standard.

O’Bannon, a much discussed and controversial case, is important both because it represents a potentially ground-breaking development in student athletes’ long effort to share in some part of the several billion dollars in revenue they help generate each year, and also on technical grounds, because it was the almost unheard-of rule-of-reason case reaching plaintiff victory on the full merits.  On appeal, the Ninth Circuit could make significant new law.

In addition to Sagers, twenty-five other scholars of antitrust and sports law signed, including professors from Harvard, NYU, North Carolina, Notre Dame, U.C. Irvine, the University of Florida, the University of Texas, and Wisconsin.

The brief is available here:  http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2557234