Supreme Court to hear case

Justices will rule on offering extra education benefits to athletes

A Supreme Court case being argued this week amid March Madness could erode the difference between elite college athletes and professional sports stars.

If the former college athletes who brought the case win, colleges could end up competing for talented student athletes by offering over-the-top education benefits worth tens of thousands of dollars. And that could change the nature of college sports.

At least that’s the fear of the NCAA. But the former athletes who sued say most college athletes will never play professional sports and that the NCAA’S rules capping education benefits deprive them of the ability to be rewarded for their athletic talents and hard work. They say the NCAA’S rules are not just unfair but illegal, and they want schools to be able to offer any education benefits they see fit.

“This is letting the schools provide encouragement to be better students and better educated … in return for what amounts to full-time jobs for the school. What could possibly be wrong with that?” said lawyer Jeffrey L. Kessler in an interview ahead of arguments in the case, which are set for Wednesday.

The former players have so far won every round of the case. Lower courts agreed that NCAA rules capping the educationrelated benefits schools can offer Division I men’s and women’s basketball players and football players violate a federal antitrust law. The narrow ruling still keeps schools from directly paying athletes, but the NCAA says it is a step in that direction.

A ruling for the students means that the NCAA can’t bar schools from sweetening their offers to Division I basketball and football athletes with additional education-related benefits.

Fordham: The university has hired longtime Villanova assistant Kyle Neptune to take over a men’s basketball program that has had only two winning seasons since joining the Atlantic 10 Conference in 1995.

Syracuse: Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said good-bye to three players in a brief statement from the university, acknowledging that point guard Kadary Richmond, forward Robert Braswell and center John Bol Ajak have entered the NCAA transfer portal.

Florida: Forward Omar Payne entered the transfer portal Tuesday and became the fifth player to leave coach Mike White’s program since the end of the season.