Santa Clara, CA: the NCAA is facing an unfair business practices class action lawsuit brought by student-athlete football players who allege that the organization' practices of restricting its college players to sit out for a year when transferring between top-level schools and capping the number of scholarships schools can offer are anti-competitive.
Lead plaintiff, Devin Pugh, a cornerback who played high school football in Oklahoma, claims in the suit that NCAA' one-year residence requirement, caps on number of scholarships, and a prior rule limiting scholarships to one-year renewable intervals are unlawful in that they restrict student-atheletes' mobility and reduces their scholarship packages, known as grants-in-aid.
Further, the complaint alleges that the "artificial"cap on the number of scholarships that can be offered leaves student-athletes and the NCAA' prior rule to prohibit multiyear scholarships leaves injured and other ineligible players without scholarships or the ability to obtain scholarships from other schools that would be otherwise willing to take the student-athlete in a competitive market.
Pugh is represented by Steve W. Berman, Elizabeth A. Fegan and Jon T. King of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, William N. Riley and Joseph N. Williams of Riley Williams & Piatt LLC, and Stuart M. Paynter of The Paynter Law Firm PLLC.
The case is Devin Pugh v. NCAA, case number 1:15-cv-01747, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.
