Ivy League Commissioner Issues Statement in Response to Suit Alleging Anti-Trust Violations
GoLocalProv News Team
Ivy League Commissioner Issues Statement in Response to Suit Alleging Anti-Trust Violations
Now, the commissioner of the Ivy League is responding.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTIn a statement to GoLocal from Ivy League Executive Director Robin Harris, Harris stated, "As students and their families consider the higher education and, specifically, the intercollegiate athletics opportunities available to them, there are a wide variety of options. Each choice, including the Ivy League, represents an individual decision and carries its own distinct features and benefits."
"The Ivy League athletics model is built upon the foundational principle that student-athletes should be representative of the wider student body, including the opportunity to receive need-based financial aid. In turn, choosing and embracing that principle then provides each Ivy League student-athlete a journey that balances a world-class academic experience with the opportunity to compete in Division I athletics and ultimately paves a path for lifelong success," Harris adds.
Harris did not address or argue the allegations levied in the suit, which argue that the Ivy League's "price-fixing agreement is per se illegal."
"It is a naked restraint of trade among horizontal competitors. The Ivy League Agreement has direct anticompetitive effects, raising the net price of education that Ivy League Athletes pay and suppressing compensation for the athletic services they provide to the University Defendants," according to the lawsuit. "Absent the Ivy League Agreement, these schools would determine unilaterally, and in competition with each other, how many athletic scholarships to provide, by sport, and in what amounts, and how much to compensate (either directly or through reimbursement of tuition, room, and board, or both) for athletic services.”