Pa. to sue over NCAA sanctions

[Ibanez]

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2013/01/02/pe ... ?hpt=hp_t2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The state of Pennsylvania will file a federal antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA, seeking to have a judge throw out all sanctions the association levied against Penn State University in the wake of the child sex abuse scandal involving former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett said Wednesday.

[dal4018]

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2013/01/02/pe ... ?hpt=hp_t2

The state of Pennsylvania will file a federal antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA, seeking to have a judge throw out all sanctions the association levied against Penn State University in the wake of the child sex abuse scandal involving former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett said Wednesday.

Why what did these sanctions vs Penn St have to do with the citizens of the state of Pennsylvania????

[danefan]

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2013/01/02/pe ... ?hpt=hp_t2

Why what did these sanctions vs Penn St have to do with the citizens of the state of Pennsylvania????

Penn State is a public institution. The citizens of PA have to do with everything Penn State does. Including paying a fine to a voluntary institution that arguably stepped beyond its authority.

[MSUDuo]

The cover up allowed that public institution to continue to bring millions of dollars into the state each year. The NCAA had every right to lay the hammer down

[danefan]

The cover up allowed that public institution to continue to bring millions of dollars into the state each year. The NCAA had every right to lay the hammer down

It certainly did. But was that the NCAA's jurisdiction to sanction?

[Franks Tanks]

The cover up allowed that public institution to continue to bring millions of dollars into the state each year. The NCAA had every right to lay the hammer down

Legally it is very unclear if they did, which is the point. PSU consented to the sanctions which gave the NCAA the authority as I undertand it, but this is not my field.

Also the statement that a cover-up allowed PSU to continue to bring in money is very dubious. It can be easily argued that if Sandusky was caught in 98' or 02' or whenever, the University and the football team would not have been impacted very much.

[Ibanez]

The cover up allowed that public institution to continue to bring millions of dollars into the state each year. The NCAA had every right to lay the hammer down

Legally it is very unclear if they did, which is the point. PSU consented to the sanctions which gave the NCAA the authority as I undertand it, but this is not my field.

Also the statement that a cover-up allowed PSU to continue to bring in money is very dubious. It can be easily argued that if Sandusky was caught in 98' or 02' or whenever, the University and the football team would not have been impacted very much.

How socialists. Sandusky was just a misunderstood artist. His studio-the shower. His canvas-little boys.

[Franks Tanks]

Legally it is very unclear if they did, which is the point. PSU consented to the sanctions which gave the NCAA the authority as I undertand it, but this is not my field.

Also the statement that a cover-up allowed PSU to continue to bring in money is very dubious. It can be easily argued that if Sandusky was caught in 98' or 02' or whenever, the University and the football team would not have been impacted very much.

How socialists. Sandusky was just a misunderstood artist. His studio-the shower. His canvas-little boys.

That statement has nothing to do with anything.

[dal4018]

The cover up allowed that public institution to continue to bring millions of dollars into the state each year. The NCAA had every right to lay the hammer down

Some ppl think the NCAA should have taken even more from this school.

[Franks Tanks]

The cover up allowed that public institution to continue to bring millions of dollars into the state each year. The NCAA had every right to lay the hammer down

Some ppl think the NCAA should have taken even more from this school.

Some people think the Earth is 6,000 years old.

[Ibanez]

How socialists. Sandusky was just a misunderstood artist. His studio-the shower. His canvas-little boys.

That statement has nothing to do with anything.

Yeah, I know. I was doing my Cluck-U impression.

[bluehenbillk]

This filing or threat to file, since they haven't actually yet is all about posturing.

First, the NCAA has only committed $15M of the $60M that PSU has to pay to stay within Pennsylvania, Harrisburg wants as close to the full $60M as they can.

Second, Corbett is playing the CYA game as his Attorney General office blew the Sandusky case off effectively when he was the AG.

Lastly, if they do file, this case will go nowhere, PSU agreed to the terms of the NCAA's punishment, PSU is a NCAA institution. Again, all about posturing, if you think for a second that PSU will get schollies back or less years with a bowl ban forget it.

[Franks Tanks]

That statement has nothing to do with anything.

Yeah, I know. I was doing my Cluck-U impression.

Pretty much what Bill said I suppose. Whether or not Corbett has any solid legal justification for the lawsuit it probably won't go anywhere. The people of PA dislike Corbett for multiple reasons and he is trying to gain some political goodwill here. Many people however will misread or misunderstand this lawsuit and use it to attack PSU and say they are not contrite etc.

[CitadelGrad]

This filing or threat to file, since they haven't actually yet is all about posturing.

First, the NCAA has only committed $15M of the $60M that PSU has to pay to stay within Pennsylvania, Harrisburg wants as close to the full $60M as they can.

Second, Corbett is playing the CYA game as his Attorney General office blew the Sandusky case off effectively when he was the AG.

Lastly, if they do file, this case will go nowhere, PSU agreed to the terms of the NCAA's punishment, PSU is a NCAA institution. Again, all about posturing, if you think for a second that PSU will get schollies back or less years with a bowl ban forget it.

Um, one of the major points of the lawsuit is that PSU did not agree to it. The BOT was not consulted and was not given a chance to vote on the agreement with the NCAA. The university president signed the agreement, but did not have the authority to do so. By forcing PSU to choose between the sanctions and the death penalty, the NCAA made itself a "state actor", yet had no legal authority to do so.

[CitadelGrad]

Yeah, I know. I was doing my Cluck-U impression.

Pretty much what Bill said I suppose. Whether or not Corbett has any solid legal justification for the lawsuit it probably won't go anywhere. The people of PA dislike Corbett for multiple reasons and he is trying to gain some political goodwill here. Many people however will misread or misunderstand this lawsuit and use it to attack PSU and say they are not contrite etc.

I disagree. The problem for the NCAA is that it has been losing in court quite a bit lately. If they decide to fight this, they will be opening themselves up to discovery, which could very easily lead to an federal anti-trust lawsuit.

The NCAA will settle and all sanctions will be removed.

[bluehenbillk]

This filing or threat to file, since they haven't actually yet is all about posturing.

First, the NCAA has only committed $15M of the $60M that PSU has to pay to stay within Pennsylvania, Harrisburg wants as close to the full $60M as they can.

Second, Corbett is playing the CYA game as his Attorney General office blew the Sandusky case off effectively when he was the AG.

Lastly, if they do file, this case will go nowhere, PSU agreed to the terms of the NCAA's punishment, PSU is a NCAA institution. Again, all about posturing, if you think for a second that PSU will get schollies back or less years with a bowl ban forget it.

Um, one of the major points of the lawsuit is that PSU did not agree to it. The BOT was not consulted and was not given a chance to vote on the agreement with the NCAA. The university president signed the agreement, but did not have the authority to do so. By forcing PSU to choose between the sanctions and the death penalty, the NCAA made itself a "state actor", yet had no legal authority to do so.

CG-

Your point has been gone over ad nauseum here in the Keystone State since the fall. Without going into all the minute details the acting PSU President Erickson did consult with members of the BOT executive committee, and not the full BOT. There were a vocal minority of trustees led by Anthony Lubrano, if I have his name correct, but it has gone nowhere. Again, this case has no legs, it's not about having PSU bowl eligible anytime sooner than they are today...move on...not that big of a story

[CitadelGrad]

If you're in PA, I'm not sure how you can be so incredibly misinformed.

Anyway, Sandusky Victim #4 supports the lawsuit against the NCAA.

On Wednesday, the NCAA called a federal lawsuit by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett over severe sanctions against the Penn State football program an "affront to all of the victims in this tragedy ? lives that were destroyed by the criminal actions of Jerry Sandusky."

However, one of those victims, so-called Victim No. 4 who was abused by Sandusky for years on the Penn State campus, supports the lawsuit according to his attorney.

Moreover, the attorney, Benjamin D. Andreozzi of Harrisburg's Andreozzi & Associates blasted the NCAA for trying to play the role of victim and never asking Sandusky's actual victims their opinion in the case. Perhaps most egregious, it assumed that the victims would find Corbett's lawsuit, but not the NCAA's actions, as an "affront." That allowed the NCAA to essentially use the real victims as a public relations tool without any knowledge of whether the assertion was accurate.

"Victim No. 4 was very disappointed when he learned of the NCAA sanctions several months ago," Andreozzi told Yahoo! Sports Wednesday. "He was particularly upset the sanctions were so broad that they impacted people who had absolutely nothing to do with the abuse or the failure to properly report the abuse.

"The NCAA acted as if it were the victim in this tragedy, and failed to even take the pulse of the real victims before imposing its will," Andreozzi continued.

"I am not suggesting that PSU should have walked away with no sanctions or that the victims should have controlled PSU's penalty," Andreozzi said. "Rather it was a mistake to impose a broad sanction that gave little consideration to the people who had nothing to do with the abuse, and inexcusable to not at least consult with the real victims and weigh their thoughts as a factor in the decision-making process."

Victim No. 4 has not yet filed a civil suit against Penn State, in part because civil actions have been frozen by the courts. The possibility remains however. The school has said it plans to work with Sandusky's victims to deal with damages.

Sandusky was convicted in June of 45 counts of child sexual abuse and is serving 30 to 60 years in a southwest Pennsylvania prison.

Victim No. 4 was the prosecution's star witness, the first called in the nearly two week trial in Bellefonte, Pa.

He was just 13 years old when he first met Sandusky in 1997 on the Penn State campus during a summer camp sponsored by the Second Mile charity designed to help at-risk kids. Victim No. 4 was poor and fatherless, and Sandusky became a constant presence in his life by using the allure of the Nittany Lion program to draw him in. Through the ensuing years he was repeatedly abused by Sandusky while being given unprecedented access to the Penn State team, where Sandusky was still the defensive coordinator.

Victim No. 4 was taken on road trips and bowl games, given sideline access during games and was a fixture in Penn State locker room. He befriended a number of Penn State players who were unaware of Sandusky's abuse of the boy.

Now 28 years old, Victim No. 4 forcefully detailed Sandusky's abuse and mind games and made a mockery of Sandusky's attorney, Joe Amendola, during cross examination. He later spoke at Sandusky's sentencing hearing and apologized to the younger victims for not having the strength to come forward sooner and stop Sandusky.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaaf--vic ... UxZS0xMWUy

[bluehenbillk]

The NCAA went off the Freeh report when they handed down the sanctions.

[CitadelGrad]

The NCAA went off the Freeh report when they handed down the sanctions.

So?

[GannonFan]

Not so sure this case has no merits - SI did a nice article on the merits of the case and the Corbett isn't in a bad position here case-wise. It's not a slam dunk for either side and even if it's just related to the dollar amount of the fine and where it gets spent, that's a pretty big deal. Taking $60M from a state supported institution and moving that money elsewhere is going to be something the NCAA might need to back away from. I don't think this case will have anything to do with scholarship restrictions and such, i.e. the on the field stuff, but could very much have a big say in the multi-million dollar fine.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/colleg ... index.html

[CitadelGrad]

If the NCAA doesn't get an early dismissal, it will fold. The last thing they want is for this to go to the discovery phase. All the sanctions will be removed. Bet on it.

[bluehenbillk]

If the NCAA doesn't get an early dismissal, it will fold. The last thing they want is for this to go to the discovery phase. All the sanctions will be removed. Bet on it.

Really? Wow. Corbett got lambasted all over the state yesterday, mis-stepping in interview after interview.

This case will never goto trial. Take a look at the last time an anti-trust suit was filed against the NCAA - Ed O'Bannon vs NCAA, which was in '08 or '09. The case is still without a trial date. The state of PA is so unorganized right now there's no chance they have.

What you need to understand is this is just a desperate act by a unpopular Governor staring one-term in the face. The same Governor that flubbed the initial investigation of Sandusky which he took heat about again yesterday on live TV.

CitGrad- I'll bet you a pizza the NCAA doesn't lessen one sanction on PSU.

[GannonFan]

If the NCAA doesn't get an early dismissal, it will fold. The last thing they want is for this to go to the discovery phase. All the sanctions will be removed. Bet on it.

Really? Wow. Corbett got lambasted all over the state yesterday, mis-stepping in interview after interview.

This case will never goto trial. Take a look at the last time an anti-trust suit was filed against the NCAA - Ed O'Bannon vs NCAA, which was in '08 or '09. The case is still without a trial date. The state of PA is so unorganized right now there's no chance they have.

What you need to understand is this is just a desperate act by a unpopular Governor staring one-term in the face. The same Governor that flubbed the initial investigation of Sandusky which he took heat about again yesterday on live TV.

CitGrad- I'll bet you a pizza the NCAA doesn't lessen one sanction on PSU.

The O'Bannon trial is not something the NCAA wants to duplicate as that case is not going well for them. Once it got to discovery, which is where it is now, O'Bannon's case got better and better and a lot of dirty laundry from the NCAA has been coming out. They certainly wouldn't want to do that with something with a much higher profile as the Penn St case would be. If Corbett gets standing to move ahead with the lawsuit CitGrad could be right, the NCAA could try to cut and run.

As for Corbett, don't be so sure that he's a one termer. The election is in 2014 and there has never been a PA governor who lost re-election since they went to the two term limit for governor - if Corbett loses re-election, he'll be the first to do so. And he would still need to lose to someone - I'm not sure who the Dems would even run right now. Casey is likely to stay in the Senate since he just ran in 2012 and they need the Senate seat. There's the Shapiro guy who's a rising star in Montgomery County but he's relatively unknown outside of there to run so soon in 2014. There's Joe Sestak, but he's been out of the loop since he lost a winnable Senate race to Toomey in 2010. And there's McCord who's the state Treasurer right now. But it's not like the Dems have a slam dunk candidate to unseat Corbett.

[CitadelGrad]

If the NCAA doesn't get an early dismissal, it will fold. The last thing they want is for this to go to the discovery phase. All the sanctions will be removed. Bet on it.

Really? Wow. Corbett got lambasted all over the state yesterday, mis-stepping in interview after interview.

This case will never goto trial. Take a look at the last time an anti-trust suit was filed against the NCAA - Ed O'Bannon vs NCAA, which was in '08 or '09. The case is still without a trial date. The state of PA is so unorganized right now there's no chance they have.

What you need to understand is this is just a desperate act by a unpopular Governor staring one-term in the face. The same Governor that flubbed the initial investigation of Sandusky which he took heat about again yesterday on live TV.

CitGrad- I'll bet you a pizza the NCAA doesn't lessen one sanction on PSU.

I like mushroom and Italian sausage.

[JohnStOnge]

I don't know what's going to happen but I do think that the NCAA got kind of "creative" in imposing sanctions against the school in this case. I think it was clearly a case in which the NCAA felt it had to do something for PR reasons whether there was a legitimate reason for imposing the kind of competitive sanctions it imposed against the school under NCAA rules or not.

And I do hope there is some kind of review of that. If it's really true that, objectively, those sanctions were justified under NCAA rules and any person looking at the rules would reasonably say so then OK. But if it looks like the NCAA imposed those sanctions for PR reasons then the NCAA ought to be reamed a new rectum. They ought to have to pay and pay handsomely.