Lawyers in Alston-related antitrust lawsuit against NCAA file motion seeking class-action status

Attorneys in the antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA related to Alston payments are seeking class-action status, according to USA Today’s Steve Berkowitz. The case is led by the attorneys who were also involved in the landmark Alston v. NCAA case in 2021.

Per the filing, the case is “seeking damages for athletes who attended any of 75 schools in 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 and met benchmarks for academic achievement awards of up to $5,980 that were set by their schools after decision in Alston case,” Berkowitz said. That figure was the one agreed upon as a result of the Alston case, and the NCAA had to distribute as much as $5,980 per year to athletes in education-related compensation dating back to 2018.

If the lawyers successfully achieve class-action status, the suit can represent a larger group of people.

The lawsuit was initially filed in April of last year with multiple former athletes listed as plaintiffs. The list includes former Oklahoma State running back Chuba Hubbard, who currently plays in the NFL with the Carolina Panthers, and former Auburn track athlete Keira McCarrell.

According to the lawsuit last year, Hubbard was “deprived of receiving the $5,980 Academic Achievement Awards that he would have earned each year that he attended OSU.”

McCarrell started her career at Oregon from 2017-19 before transferring to Auburn, where she competed from 2019-22. She “was deprived of receiving Academic Achievement Awards that she would have earned each year that she attended Oregon and the first two years that she attended Auburn,” according to the lawsuit.

In the filing, the economic expert for the plaintiffs said “preliminary estimates” are that the athletes should be awarded $313 million in damages, Berkowitz said. Per antitrust law, though, that number would triple if it’s awarded at trial.

Steve Berman and Jeff Kessler are the lawyers leading the charge. When the lawsuit came about in April 2023, Berman – Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP’s managing partner and co-founder – emphatically called out the NCAA and how it’s impacted by anti-trust laws.

“The NCAA has been operating for 50 years as if they are exempt from antitrust laws,” Berman told Sports Illustrated at the time. “The Supreme Court made it clear they aren’t. They want to go back to Congress and establish the status quo making them immune from the antitrust laws. No one else in the United States has that luxury. Why should they? We think it is pretty outrageous.”