Antitrust suits are generally different from other civil litigation--findings of fact aren't quite as binding on the appelate courts. Antitrust suits are often completely reversed (facts and law) when the appelate court looks at them.
Remember, the District Court ruled that Microsoft had to be broken up. It's not how that case ultimately turned out. The appeals court reversed virtually every finding.
There were two interesting issues where the lawyers at trial basically ignored the DC judge and made the argument that might be persuasive to the appeals court: standing (these kids don't play for the NCAA, they play for an individual school) and monopoly/monopsony (is there one seller, or one buyer). The lawyers knew they were going to lose at the DC level and appeal even before the trial got going.
One other nuance--while the NCAA cannot (stay pending appeal notwithstanding) prevent schools and conferences from doing certain things, most conferences have rules that are similar to the NCAA. So unless each conference agrees and changes its rules, nothing will change, unless you are ND or BYU.
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Attorney here.
Antitrust suits are generally different from other civil litigation--findings of fact aren't quite as binding on the appelate courts. Antitrust suits are often completely reversed (facts and law) when the appelate court looks at them.
Remember, the District Court ruled that Microsoft had to be broken up. It's not how that case ultimately turned out. The appeals court reversed virtually every finding.
There were two interesting issues where the lawyers at trial basically ignored the DC judge and made the argument that might be persuasive to the appeals court: standing (these kids don't play for the NCAA, they play for an individual school) and monopoly/monopsony (is there one seller, or one buyer). The lawyers knew they were going to lose at the DC level and appeal even before the trial got going.
One other nuance--while the NCAA cannot (stay pending appeal notwithstanding) prevent schools and conferences from doing certain things, most conferences have rules that are similar to the NCAA. So unless each conference agrees and changes its rules, nothing will change, unless you are ND or BYU.