New York, NY: (Jan-29-08) A federal antitrust lawsuit was filed against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), following a class action suit brought in 2006 on behalf of former football players Jason White of Stanford and Brian Polak of UCLA, former San Francisco basketball player Jovan Harris, and Chris Craig, a former Texas-El Paso basketball player. The suit argued that restricting a scholarship to the cost of tuition, books, housing and meals was an unlawful restraint of trade because of the billions of dollars the NCAA earned through broadcast and licensing deals.
Sources close to the case stated that as part of a settlement reached, the NCAA agreed to make available $10 million that will provide supplemental money above the standard athletic grant-in-aid to athletes who have competed in Division I-A football and in 16 Division I men's basketball conferences between February 2002, and January 2007. An NCAA study estimated athletes on full scholarships averaged $2,500 a year in out-of-pocket expenses. The settlement allows athletes to apply for as much as $2,500 a year for up to three years. [
