NCAA Clear of Basketball Players’ Antitrust Lawsuit on Appeal

The NCAA and its power conferences prevailed in an antitrust case brought by more than a dozen former collegiate men’s basketball players, after the Second Circuit on Monday upheld the dismissal of the plaintiffs’ claims as untimely.

“Plaintiffs have failed to allege that extraordinary circumstances prevented them from suing during the limitations period,” the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said in a Monday opinion. “Accordingly, plaintiffs’ Sherman Act claims seeking damages are time-barred, and dismissal was appropriate.”

The ruling tosses for good claims brought by the basketball players, including lead plaintiff Mario Chalmers, who gained notoriety for “Mario’s Miracle,” his shot that sent the Jayhawks’ 2008 national championship game against the Memphis Tigers into overtime, which Kansas went on to win.

The athletes alleged last year that the NCAA and the conferences have benefited from constant replays of that shot in advertisements and online videos, and owed him and the other players money for their name, image, and likeness.

Other player plaintiffs included Chalmers’ Kansas teammate Sherron Collins and 19-year NBA veteran Jason Terry, who played for the University of Arizona.

There are several similar suits against the NCAA by former athletes, including NFL player Terrelle Pryor, that were later tossed.

In April, Judge Paul A. Engelmayer of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed the athletes’ claims, saying the suit was time-barred by the four-year antitrust statute of limitations.

Chalmers appealed, arguing that under the continuing violation doctrine, the limitations period restarts each time the NCAA used their NIL for commercial purposes.

The players also said the NCAA engaged in anticompetitive conduct when they required them to sign student-athlete statements each academic year. And by forcing plaintiffs to sign away their NIL rights without compensation, the NCAA allegedly carried out a conspiracy to prohibit student-athletes from receiving any pay.

However, the Second Circuit disagreed, saying the alleged misconduct ended “at the very latest, in June 2016.”

The Second Circuit said it might be true that the current market for NIL wasn’t foreseeable at the time the players signed their statements. But, “it is not enough that the value of plaintiffs’ NIL may be higher today than they might have expected it to be when they surrendered it to defendants,” it said.

The Second Circuit also tossed unjust enrichment claims and concluded the plaintiffs’ claims for injunctive relief was barred.

The ruling comes the same day as the Southern District of New York threw out on similar grounds a suit by former Villanova basketball player Kris Jenkins, who is best known for this game-winning shot in the 2016 national championship.

The opinion was written by Judges Guido Calabresi, Gerard E. Lynch, and Sarah A.L. Merriam.

The NCAA is represented by Wilkinson Stekloff LLP. The plaintiffs are represented by Cheshire Parker Schneider PLLC and Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman PLLC.

The case is Chalmers v. NCAA, 2d Cir., No. 25-1307, 12/15/25.