WASHINGTON — Entering the debate over whether student-athletes may share in the proceeds of what can be enormously lucrative college sports franchises, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on Wednesday in the first case in decades to consider how federal antitrust laws apply to the N.C.A.A.
Lawyers for the lead plaintiff in the case, Shawne Alston, a former West Virginia University running back, said that he and the other athletes had been exploited.
“Despite the massive revenues generated by these sports and the ever-growing demands on student-athletes,” their Supreme Court brief said, “the N.C.A.A.’s members continue to restrict the type and amount of compensation and benefits — including education-related benefits — that schools may offer in competing for recruits.