Alston v. NCAA – drawing a (blurred) line in U.S College Sports

Written By

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Dr. Joseph Fesenmair

Partner
Germany

I am a partner specialising in IP, media and sports law in our Munich office, where I act as co-head of our international Media, Entertainment and Sport Sector Group. I bring deep experience in trade mark, design, copyright and unfair competition law and am widely known for my expertise in sports and sponsorship.

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Prof. Dr. Martin Schimke, LL.M.

Of Counsel
Germany

As an Of Counsel and a member of our sports team in Düsseldorf, I am an expert sports lawyer, with decades of experience behind me. I'm also a certified specialist lawyer in employment law.

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Jonathan Taylor

Partner
UK

As head of our Sports Group in London, I advise governing bodies, event organisers and others active in the sector, across all major sports, on a range of commercial, regulatory and contentious issues.

On 21 June 2021 the US Supreme Court gave its long-awaited judgement in the Alston case. The justices unanimously ruled that the National Collegiate Athletic Association cannot prohibit its member schools from providing athletes with certain forms of education-related benefits, such as paid post-graduate internships, scholarships for graduate school or computer fess/equipment. The decision ended a dispute that began seven years ago as a class-action lawsuit filed against the NCAA and the major collegiate athletic conferences by athletes who played Division I football and basketball. While this decision only concerns education related benefits, it might have the power to change US College sport in its entirety.

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