US judge dismisses sweeping class action over older ex-NCAA athletes' pay

By Mike Scarcella

April 28 (Reuters) - The National Collegiate Athletic Association has convinced a U.S. judge to dismiss a lawsuit seeking compensation for thousands of former student athletes who played team sports in college prior to 2016.

In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan said the claims in the proposed antitrust class action against the NCAA, the governing body for U.S. collegiate athletics, were filed too late.

The former athletes “sat on their hands for more than a decade before bringing this lawsuit,” Engelmayer wrote. The judge ruled for the NCAA, dismissing the lawsuit. Plaintiffs generally face a four-year window to bring claims under U.S. antitrust law.

Attorneys for the former players did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The NCAA in a statement welcomed the judge’s order, saying the court had “definitively examined and dismissed” the claims. “We are hopeful that several of the copycat cases will be similarly treated by other courts,” the NCAA said.

The lawsuit was filed last year by 16 former college players who said they should be paid for the NCAA’s commercial use of their names, images and likenesses alleging violations of antitrust law.

The plaintiffs, who sought to represent a class of former Division 1 NCAA athletes, include former members of a Kansas Jayhawks men's championship basketball team and other top players.

They are not included in a multibillion-dollar settlement between the NCAA and thousands of current and former athletes that will for the first time provide some compensation to college athletes directly from schools. That settlement excludes student athletes before 2016.

U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken in Oakland, California, is weighing final approval of that settlement. Last week she delayed her resolution while lawyers for the NCAA and student athletes hashed out further settlement details.

Wilken said a provision of the settlement that would immediately cap the number of students named to team rosters was unfair to some members of the class action.

The case is Chalmers v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 1:24-cv-05008.

For the players: Peggy Wedgworth, Scott Harris and James DeMay of Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman; Elliot Abrams of Cheshire Parker Schneider; Stacy Miller of Miller Law Group; and Scott Tompsett of Tompsett Collegiate Sports Law

For NCAA: Rakesh Kilaru of Wilkinson Stekloff

Read more:

Judge delays approval of $2.8 billion NCAA settlement over roster limit question

NCAA sued by Kansas Jayhawks ex-champs, other student basketball players

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