The Shadowy Puppet Masters Who Control College Athletics

In 2019 the Supreme Court shattered one of the biggest private monopolies in America, the NCAA. Players are getting paid big time, and now pushback from the ownership class is ramping up.

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Graphic: Alex Malchow

College sports is a multibillion dollar business, but until a few years ago the athletes didn’t see a penny of it. In 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that the NCAA, the organization that governs college sports, had violated antitrust laws, and athletes gained the right to monetize their appearances and endorsements. This year, for the first time, athletes will receive revenue sharing from NCAA, the result of another lawsuit.

After decades of generating billions for everyone but themselves, athletes are finally starting to share in the value they create. So why is this moment being described as a crisis, with new legislation in Congress that would once again restrict what athletes can earn?

Today on the show Matt and David talk with Katie Van Dyck, Senior Legal Fellow at the American Economic Liberties Project and former Attorney Advisor at the Federal Trade Commission, about the NCAA and whether this so-called crisis is really an effort to turn back the clock to a time when student athletes had far less bargaining power and influence in the very fields where they compete.

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