WASHINGTON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ducked the contentious issue of pay for college athletes, leaving in place a lower court's ruling that the governing body for collegiate sports violated antitrust law by limiting athlete compensation.
The justices declined to hear an appeal by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which presides over the multibillion-dollar business of big-time college sports led by football and basketball.
The NCAA was seeking to reverse a September 2015 decision by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the NCAA's ban on compensating athletes for use of their names and images constituted a restraint of trade under federal antitrust law.