National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Board of Regents
United States Supreme Court
468 U.S. 85 (1984)
The NCAA (defendant) adopted a 1981 television-broadcast plan limiting individual member schools' ability to independently sell college-football broadcast rights, capping how often specific schools could appear on television and prohibiting sales outside the plan's limits, with two specified networks holding exclusive negotiating rights for a limited number of live games; the Universities of Oklahoma and Georgia (plaintiffs) sued, alleging the plan unreasonably restrained trade under Sherman Act section 1, and the district court and court of appeals both agreed and enjoined the plan, prompting the NCAA's appeal.
Whether an agreement to fix product prices or output may be assessed under the rule of reason rather than the per se rule in a market if some cooperation among competitors is required for the market to function.