Ivy League universities have the upper hand in banning athletic scholarships

The eight Ivy League universities escaped claims that their ban on athletic scholarships violates antitrust law as a federal judge granted the schools’ request to dismiss the case.

Judge Alvin W. Thompson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut said in a ruling Thursday that the student-athlete plaintiffs failed to allege a properly defined market and therefore failed to allege market-wide anticompetitive effects.

“The deficiencies in the complaint that form the basis for granting the motion to dismiss are substantive in nature, and nothing in plaintiff’s papers indicates that they could amend the complaint to cure them…