College Hockey:

Court Reinstates Suit Against NCAA’s Ticket System

The NCAA faces a lawsuit regarding the legality of its ticket-lottery system for events such as the men’s Frozen Four.

A U.S. appeals court in Chicago on Friday reversed the 2009 dismissal of the case by a federal judge, Bloomberg reported.

That clears the way for the case to determine whether the NCAA’s $6 to $10 handling fee — which it at one point kept regardless of whether the customer was awarded tickets through the lottery — is legal under Indiana law.

The case was brought by consumers in New York, Arizona and Oregon.

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the practice may violate an Indiana law barring anyone other than the state from running a lottery, Bloomberg reported.

The NCAA argued that the process gave fans only an opportunity to buy tickets at full price and did not constitute a prize.

But, writing for the majority in a 2-1 decision, Judge John Darrah did not agree.

“Plaintiffs have alleged all elements of a lottery: they paid a per-ticket or per-entry fee (consideration) to enter a random drawing (chance) in hopes of obtaining scarce, valuable tickets (a prize),” Darrah wrote, according to Reuters.

A lower court will hear further proceedings.