On March 31, 2021, the U. S. Supreme Court heard the case of NCAA v. Alston. It is an antitrust case in which the NCAA argues that the property rights of Division I basketball and FBS football athletes should be dismissed because college athletes are amateurs. Lawyer and Communications Professor Sarah Fields, joined the author of this piece, Ronald A. Smith, along with four other sport historians in writing an amicus brief on the case. The brief points out the NCAA’s hypocrisy by quoting Taylor Branch: “no legal definition of amateur exists, and any attempt to create one in enforceable law would expose its repulsive and unconstitutional nature.” 

Will the Supreme Court Uphold the NCAA's Version of Amateurism?
History News Network, Mar 28