The court, in a brief written order, said it would hear the NCAA’s appeal of lower court rulings that found the association unlawfully limited competition for college athletes by adopting a restricted view of the kinds of compensation the athletes could receive related to their education.
Those rulings allowed college athletes to receive an expanded range of education-related benefits, such as laptop computers or musical instruments, study abroad programs, internships and paid-for graduate school. The rulings didn’t lift NCAA limits on athlete compensation unrelated to education.
The Supreme Court is likely to hear arguments in the spring, with a decision expected by the end of June.
The court’s review comes amid broader national efforts to overhaul college athletics. After California passed a law last year effectively forcing schools to allow athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness, the NCAA made an abrupt reversal to a decades-old position and said it would change its own policies to permit some compensation for endorsements.
The association has pledged to unveil its detailed plans in early 2021 that would take effect by the new school year. It remains under pressure from athletes’ rights activists and some states to go further in allowing compensation.
The NCAA has also looked to the U.S. Congress for a federal law that would cement its vision and pre-empt more aggressive efforts to overhaul restrictions on college athletes. The Supreme Court’s opinion could shake up the fight anew.