Sports Nuggets:

• Fun times for the NCAA today, as SCOTUS ruled 9-0 against them in enforcing certain rules limiting the education-related benefits.
  • The Supreme Court upheld previous rulings on the “NCAA v. Alston” case, which states that the organization “can no longer bar colleges from providing athletes with education-related benefits such as free laptops or paid post-graduate internships,”
    • It violated the Sherman Act, in that the restriction on non-cash benefits was an impediment on the provision of the education they were promised.
    • Before the lawsuit, schools were allowed to provide tuition and fees, room and board, books and other expenses related to the cost of attendance.
      • They are permitted to make payments for certain athletic participation awards, tutoring and study abroad expenses related to a course.
      • There was a cap in place of $5000.
  • It also means that the NCAA will have to stop getting rich off the athletes compensated with “free tuition”.
    • In 2016, for example, the NCAA negotiated an eight-year extension of its broadcasting rights to March Madness, worth $1.1 billion annually.
  • Justice Kavanaugh wrote a separate opinion aimed at underscoring the fact that, beyond the rules at issue in the current case, “the NCAA’s remaining compensation rules also raise serious questions under the antitrust laws.”
    • “The NCAA’s business model would be flatly illegal in almost any other industry in America. [For example, a]ll of the restaurants in a region cannot come together to cut cooks’ wages on the theory that ‘customers prefer’ to eat food from low-paid cooks.”
  • As a result of the ruling, the NCAA itself can’t bar schools from sweetening their offers to Division I basketball and football players with additional education-related benefits.
    • But individual athletic conferences can still set limits if they choose.
  • According to The Athletic contributor & law professor Alicia Jessop, this means three things going forward: (“NIL” stands for Name-Image-Likeness, which was pioneered in the O’Bannon v. NCAA case)

Where the status of NCAA athlete compensation stands now, with the Supreme Court’s Alston ruling:

1. Schools can give unlimited benefits tied to education

2. Expect every state to pass or speed up NIL legislation

3. Expect the NCAA to FINALLY draft NIL legislation

— Alicia Jessop (@RulingSports) June 21, 2021

• Dr. Cole Beasley has weighed in on what “you people” think about “his” decision.
  • I’ll embed the screed tweet below, but suffice to say he is not getting the vaccine, and fuck you for your shitty attitude.
    • “I’m not going to take meds for a leg that isn’t broken. I’d rather take my chances with Covid and build up my immunity that way. … I’ll play for free this year to live life how I’ve lived it from day one. If I’m forced into retirement, so be it.”

https://twitter.com/Bease11/status/1405971914607239172

• Eli’s back with the Giants!
  • Parroting most of the hyperbolic headlines, he’s rejoined the team in a business operations and fan engagement role
    • He will be collaborating with the Giants on original content development and fan engagement activations, including a new lifestyle series premiering this fall.
    • A “brand ambassador”, as Vince McMahon would call him.
  • They will also be retiring his jersey this season.
    • It’ll be Week 3, when the Falcons pay the Meadowlands a visit.
      • He has earned it, playing in 236 regular-season games with the Giants & making four Pro Bowls, winning two Super Bowls, and owning almost every franchise passing record. (Suck it, Phil Simms!)

So, it looks like the Giants are proud of more than one thing today.

Eli Manning is back home! @EliManning has rejoined the org in a business ops & fan engagement role. Plus, we've set the date for jersey retirement and ring of honor!

📰: https://t.co/69LQoFTpii pic.twitter.com/hezPk7ZCiM

— New York Giants (@Giants) June 21, 2021

Tonight’s sports:

• NHL:
  • NY Islanders at Tampa Bay – 8:00pm | NBCSN / CBC / Sportsnet
• NBA:
  • no game tonight
• MLB:
  • Houston at Baltimore – 7:05pm | MLBN
  • LA Dodgers at San Diego – 10:00pm | ESPN / TSN2
• Futbol:
  • Argentina vs. Paraguay – 8:00pm | FS1 / TSN3
• US Olympic trials
  • Track & Field – 8:00pm | NBC
•  WWE:
  • Monday Night Raw – 8:00pm | USA / Sportsnet360
    • The build to SummerSlam begins.
      • It’s being held at the Raiders’ stadium in Vegas. They’ve apparently sold 38,000 tickets already, and TicketMaster lists the event’s capacity at 41,661.
        • It’s going to be used as a test for full-capacity Raiders games in the fall.

That’s a pretty good sports menu for the evening.