| The National Collegiate Athletic Association has grown from a small organization created to police football to a multi-billion dollar organization that regulates the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Due to its huge growth, some critics wonder if the NCAA has spun out of control so far that it cannot save itself without government intervention. The intervention that they seek is an exemption from current antitrust laws so that the NCAA could legally restrain out of control spending. An exemption would provide the NCAA the freedom to curtail spending and potentially reform the current cost structure of major college athletics. This study analyzes antitrust law and whether the NCAA would receive an antitrust exemption based upon precedent and other exemptions granted by Congress. Based upon the research from this study, the NCAA deserves a partial exemption to regulate the member institutions, but not a total exemption due to parts of the NCAA being highly commercial. |
