Cal Stein a partner in Troutman Pepper Locke’s White Collar Litigation + Investigations Practice Group, was quoted in the May 14, 2025 Bloomberg Law article, “NCAA’s $2.8 Billion Antitrust Settlement Hit With New Objections.”

Competitive Balance

Historically, there have always been limits on professional and college rosters, otherwise schools could have unlimited team members, throwing off the competitive balance on the field, said Cal Stein, a litigation partner with Troutman Pepper Locke.

“Think about a volleyball team and one team shows up with a roster of 30 and the other shows up with a roster of 10,” Stein said.

The objectors are seizing on the NCAA’s desire to keep its discretion, saying they want roster spots for current student-athletes and recruited student-athletes to be guaranteed. “They are interpreting Judge Wilken’s comments to guarantee them—full stop,” Stein said.

It would behoove the NCAA to add a provision for a formal grievance system, instead of facing likely litigation from student-athletes over roster cuts, he said.

“The implementation of something like that would solve all of these issues,” Stein said. “To me, the judge can either look at this and say ‘no I don’t think we need this, I do think the schools can be trusted without it. I’m approving the settlement’ or she is going to go back to the parties and say ‘come on, we are so close, can’t we have some sort of adjudication system that we can agree on?'”