National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Tarkanian: Supreme Court Upholds NCAA's Private Status Under the Fourteenth Amendment, Repelling Shark's Attack on NCAA's Disciplinary Powers

• NCJ Number: 127155
• Journal: Pepperdine Law Review Volume: 17 Issue: 1 Dated: (1989) Pages: 217-253
• Author(s): M G Dawson
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 37 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This critique of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) v. Tarkanian (1988) examines the status of the NCAA's legal authority and its consequent necessity to comply with the 14th amendment's due process requirement.

Abstract

Following a brief history of the establishment and growth of the NCAA, the legal mandates of 42 U.S.C. 1983 and the 14th amendment are examined, since they are most often the basis for attacking NCAA authority. This includes an analysis of prior relevant decisions reached by various Federal and State courts which have been divided on the NCAA's status as a State or private actor. The article then discusses the circumstances of the "Tarkanian" case, which began in the early 1970's and has yet to be fully resolved. Tarkanian, the basketball coach at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, won all of the judgments in the Nevada State courts. The majority in the U.S. Supreme Court's decision, however, upheld the NCAA's status as a private actor under the 14th amendment and section 1983 of Title 42 of the U.S. Code. The dissenting opinion argued that the NCAA is a State actor. The comment discusses the practical impact of the case and addresses the concern that the NCAA has become too powerful in administering discipline to State-funded universities which it deems to have violated NCAA rules. 288 footnotes