On Monday, October 6, the NCAA filed a motion in federal court, asking to have a newly enacted Pennsylvania law, which manipulates the Penn State Sandusky fine, invalidated as it is unconstitutional.
The NCAA’s motion is directed at the Institution of Higher Education Monetary Penalty Endowment Act, which was enacted in 2013 in response to a fine levied against Penn State University. In 2012, the NCAA and Penn State agreed to a Consent Decree penalizing the university for the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal. The NCAA banned Penn State from post-season play for four years, denied some of its football scholarships, and fined the school $60 million. The money allocated by the fine would be used to detect, prevent, and treat child abuse on a national scale.
The 2013 Endowment Act requires that the $60 million fine be kept entirely within Pennsylvania. The NCAA claims this to be unconstitutional as such legislation violates the US Constitution’s commerce clause, takings clause, and contracts clause. Essentially, the NCAA argues that the legislation is economic protectionism, restricting interstate commerce, taking private property without compensation for use by the state, and imposing retroactive obligations on the parties to the original contract. If the motion is not granted in favor of the NCAA, trial will begin in January.