The Supreme Court of the United States paved the way on Monday for retribution of university athletes, now deprived of any salary despite the enormous profits they generate.
The nine wise men were called upon to pronounce on a very limited question: the attribution to these sportsmen of advantages of an educational nature (computers, scientific equipment, musical instruments …).
They unanimously ruled that the limits set in this area by the National Association of College Athletes, the NCAA, which oversees college sport, violated antitrust laws.
If the immediate scope of this decision is narrow, it could be followed by other remedies, since the Supreme Court has recognized that the NCAA is not exempt from competition law “even if it has social objectives”, such as preservation. amateur sport.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, in a separate text, endorsed the decision, “an important and long-awaited correction,” while insisting: “other NCAA rules also pose important questions under the law of the competition”.
The economy of American college sport exceeds most of the world’s professional leagues in financial weight, driven by gigantic television broadcasting contracts.
In their decision, the judges recall that in 2016, the top divisions of college football and basketball generated $ 13.5 billion in revenue.
For their achievements, athletes only benefit from the cost of their studies and sometimes a performance bonus, capped at $ 5,980 per year.
“Those who run this business get a very different profit from it,” noted the Court. The president of the NCAA earns $ 4 million a year, and premier league football coaches nearly $ 11 million, she notes.
To correct what they perceive to be an injustice, eight states have passed laws to compensate college athletes for the use of their name and image off the field.
Before they go into effect, from July 1, the NCAA is scheduled to meet on Tuesday and Wednesday and may also announce reforms.
Several bills have also been introduced in Congress. One provides that 50% of the profits generated by their discipline will be donated to the athletes.
American university sport is very popular in the United States: tens of millions of former students remain loyal to their former faculty and support the sports teams of their “alma mater”, the establishment where they did their higher education.
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