The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) enjoyed a monopoly unlike any other organization in the history of America. For decades upon decades, colleges, universities, coaches, staff, television-partners, conferences and the like reaped the financial rewards of a now multibillion-dollar industry. All of this while the main stars of the industry, the players, were expressly banned from enjoying any financial reward beyond scholarships. Antiquated rules and regulations around what players could and could not do coupled with aggressive enforcement served to keep the monopoly in place. Until now.

The NCAA is facing a legal reckoning the likes of which has arguably never been in any industry. The advent of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rights and multiple, varied challenges regarding whether student-athletes are employees are all catalysts to eliminate the NCAA’s monopoly and potentially end the NCAA as we know it.