Fairness, Due Process and the NCAA: Time to Dismiss the Fiction of the NCAA as a “Private Actor”


  •  Richard Hunter    
  •  John Shannon    
  •  Laurence McCarthy    

Abstract

This article raises the important question regarding the legal status of the NCAA as a “state actor” which would subject it to constitutional due process requirements. The article is written within the context of two important cases: Tarkanian and Brentwood Academy. The authors take the position that the dissenting judges in Tarkanian and the majority in Brentwood essentially “got it right” and they provide an analogy to settled Supreme Court precedents that will provide the Supreme Court with a path to bring the NCAA under the aegis of the constitution—at least as far as providing members institutions, athletic administrative personnel, and athletes a modicum of due process protections.



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