An Antitrust Exemption for the NCAA: Sound Policy or Letting the Fox Loose in the Henhouse?

This Article focuses on the issues presented by the debate over granting the NCAA an exemption from federal antitrust law. Part II briefly describes the history of antitrust litigation involving the NCAA. Part III discusses some of the proposals for affording some type of antitrust immunity to the NCAA. Part IV explains the rationales utilized for some of the numerous antitrust exemptions Congress and the Supreme Court have created for some businesses and forms of commercial activity. Part V addresses the question of whether any of those rationales justifies providing the NCAA with a legislative or judicial antitrust exemption and concludes that the NCAA should not enjoy insulation from federal antitrust law. Alternatively, if the NCAA does receive some sort of antitrust exemption, it should be predicated on the willingness of the member institutions to accept some form of regulatory oversight to ensure that the goals underlying any exemption will be sufficiently addressed