The University of Arkansas’ financials are looking good, and if antitrust litigation against the NCAA is successful, that could favor the Razorbacks.
The University of Arkansas isn’t hurting for cash, and a big potential change in the works could translate those dollars to loads of talent for the Razorbacks.
On Monday morning, Michael Smith of Sports Business Journal broke the news (paywall) that Arkansas has renewed its contract with IMG College. That will allow IMG to continue to manage the media rights for Razorback athletics. The value of the deal is $137 million over the next 10 years, a 90 percent increase over what IMG had been paying Arkansas.
That news comes just two days after Arkansas announced that it had raised over $38 million in its latest fundraising round. Elsewhere and somewhat related to the Razorbacks getting paid, current litigation against the NCAA took an interesting turn.
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Early Saturday morning, Steve Berkowitz of USA Today reported that the plaintiffs in the current antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA petitioned presiding Judge Claudia Wilken for summary judgment in their favor. For fans unfamiliar with that legal term, it means that the plaintiffs believe that their arguments are strong enough that the defendants, in this case the NCAA, couldn’t adequately rebut them. Essentially, the plaintiffs are arguing that an actual trial would be a waste of everyone’s money and time.
It’s unclear how quickly Judge Wilken will make a decision on the plaintiffs’ request or which way she will rule, but the stakes are high. The lawsuit alleges that the NCAA’s restriction limiting its member institutions to compensating their football players, men’s basketball players and women’s basketball players at the NCAA-determined full cost of attendance is a violation of federal antitrust laws in the United States.
If Judge Wilken rules that the restriction does indeed violate antitrust statutes, with or without a trial, there will be many consequences of that decision. It’s almost a foregone conclusion that the NCAA would seek an immediate stay of Wilkens’ ruling pending their appeal of Wilkens’ decision. If the ultimate fate of the full cost of attendance restriction is death by court decision, then it could possibly create an open market for the services of athletes among NCAA-member institutions like Arkansas.
To be clear, that ruling wouldn’t affect NCAA rules against giving players or recruits payments like cash or buying them cars, etc. All the ruling would do is make it illegal for the NCAA to place a cap on what schools could offer their athletes in exchange for their time and work. Conferences like the SEC could still place restrictions on what their member schools could offer, as well as individual schools.
Given what has been reported about the Razorbacks’ financial health over the past few days, on top of what was already known about the robust payouts to SEC conference members, it seems very likely that Arkansas would be well-equipped to compete in bidding wars for the commitments of the best basketball and football talent in the nation.
If the antitrust litigation is successful, “calling those pigs” might become much more than a sideline cheer for the Razorbacks. The lure of the spending power that Arkansas possesses could be very enticing for potential athletes.