A federal antitrust lawsuit filed against the NCAA and the Power 5 conferences on Tuesday seeks retroactive damages for thousands of current and former athletes who believe they are entitled to back pay from schools that currently offer payments as a result of the 2021 Supreme Court ruling in Alston v. NCAA.
Former Oklahoma State running back Chuba Hubbard and former Auburn track athlete Keira McCarrell are listed as the plaintiffs, and the case, which seeks to be a class action, was filed in the Northern District of California’s Oakland Division. The plaintiffs are represented by Steve Berman of Hagens Berman and Jeffrey Kessler of Winston & Strawn LLP, the two lawyers who represented the victorious Alston plaintiffs.
That landmark case paved the way for schools to provide athletes up to $5,980 a year for academic-related benefits if so inclined. The schools that have adopted such benefits have colloquially termed them “Alston awards” or “Alston payments.” More than 50 Division I schools are providing Alston payments to athletes in some or all sports, Kessler said. It is up to each individual school to set the requirements that must be met by an individual athlete to qualify for such payment.
The crux of the new case is that Alston payments have been permissible since…
