At the beginning of the new year, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against NCAA asking for a complete reversal of the sanctions levied against Penn State last summer in light of the Freeh report on the university’s inaction in the Jerry Sandusky scandal.
The obvious next step was for the NCAA to file a motion to dismiss the suit, and that’s exactly what it’s done. You can view the motion HERE from the NCAA’s official website.
The two arguments of the motion are that the complaint “fails to state a violation of the Sherman Act” and that the “Plaintiff lacks standing to seek injunctive relief.” More specifically, the NCAA argues that its regulation of collegiate athletics is only subject to antitrust scrutiny if it impacts certain economic activity such as television contracts or coaching salaries, and enforcing rules is not a regulation of commerce.
Furthermore, the motion goes back to the consent decree that Penn State approved -- the argument against that being that the university had no choice but sign it -- and that Corbett does not have standing to sue because he’s not doing so on behalf of anyone subject to antitrust injury.
The NCAA claiming that Corbett is overstepping his jurisdiction is almost too ironic to handle.
I’ve stated before that I believe the NCAA needs to be challenged on its actions against Penn State, although Corbett is admittedly an odd choice to be the one to do so. Corbett was the former Attorney General of Pennsylvania who failed to bring Sandusky, Penn State’s longtime defensive coordinator, to justice for sexually abusing young boys.
Not to mention Corbett said last summer that Penn State must “accept the serious penalties imposed... by the NCAA.”
Political grandstanding at its finest? Yeah, there’s that, but the suit and the motion to dismiss said suit have been filed. Now it’s time to see which direction this case goes in a court of law.