College sports are at a crossroads. Student-athletes have only recently gained the right to earn money from their name, image and likeness. Just as this progress gains steam, Congress may undermine it by granting the NCAA a sweeping exemption from antitrust law.
Buried in the legislation is a clause that would make “compliance” with it broadly immune from enforcement of federal antitrust law and any state law or rules that have the same effect, no matter how anti-competitive its rules may be.
Translation? The NCAA could collude to cap athlete earnings and enact other rules that work to suppress competition harmfully, and no one could stop them.