NCAA Hit With Antitrust Suit From 2008 Kansas Basketball Team

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is facing a new antitrust complaint from members of the 2008 Kansas Jayhawks national championship men’s basketball team, who claim the organization failed to compensate them for their likeness.

Mario Chalmers, Sherron Collins, and other members of 2008 Kansas team allege they were paid nothing for continued use of their name, image and likeness in promoting March Madness tournaments, according to a proposed class action filed Monday in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The complaint adds to a string of antitrust litigation against the NCAA, including a suit filed last month by the 1983 North Carolina State University men’s basketball championship team.

The Kansas complaint says the NCAA promoted March Madness through countless replays of “Mario’s Miracle,” in which Chalmers launched an iconic shot in a game against the Memphis Tigers men’s basketball team. Chalmers’ shot sent the national championship game to overtime, and the Jayhawks won the national title.

“Absent Defendants’ conduct, Plaintiffs and Class Members would have received a competitive share of the revenue being brought into the NCAA and their co-conspirators from Plaintiffs’ and Class members’ labor,” the former players said in the complaint.

The suit comes after the NCAA agreed to a $2.8 billion settlement to resolve antitrust litigation, following years of legal fights with student athletes demanding fair pay.

The NCAA didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Plaintiffs are represented by Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman PLLC.

The case is Chalmers v. NCAA, S.D.N.Y., No. 1:24-cv-05008, 7/1/24.