O’Bannon: How NCAA Witnesses Established ‘The Less Restrictive Alternative’ to Their Restraints

By Jeff Birren   NCAA members and professional sports leagues are incapable of producing a product without an agreement. The participants must agree on the sport that is being contested, and from that flow a myriad of rules that regulate the contest and its participants. In such instances, Federal circuit courts have long-held that Sherman Act rule-challenges are subject to the “flexible Rule of Reason.” The Supreme Court agreed in American Needle, Inc. v. National Football League, 560