## Facts

- The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a private association of roughly 960 public and private colleges and universities that sets rules for member athletics.
- Jerry Tarkanian was the head men’s basketball coach at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), a public university and NCAA member.
- The NCAA Committee on Infractions investigated UNLV for recruiting and related misconduct and found 38 rules violations, including 10 attributed to Tarkanian.
- The NCAA imposed sanctions on UNLV and required UNLV to show cause why additional penalties should not be imposed if UNLV did not suspend Tarkanian during a probation period.
- UNLV reassigned Tarkanian under terms that included demotion and a major pay reduction.
- Tarkanian sued UNLV and the NCAA in Nevada state court under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging deprivation of Fourteenth Amendment due process.
- The Nevada trial court granted injunctive relief and attorney’s fees, treating the NCAA as a state actor; the Nevada Supreme Court affirmed as to the NCAA.

## Issues

1. Whether the NCAA’s investigation and enforcement conduct that led to UNLV’s suspension of Tarkanian constituted “state action” under the Fourteenth Amendment.
2. Whether the NCAA acted “under color of” state law for purposes of liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court reversed (5–4), holding the NCAA’s conduct was not state action and was not under color of state law.
- The Court ruled that UNLV’s compliance with NCAA rules and recommendations did not convert the NCAA’s actions into those of the State of Nevada.
- The Court emphasized that NCAA rules arose from the nationwide membership, not from Nevada law or a Nevada governmental delegation.
- The Court noted UNLV voluntarily joined the NCAA and retained power to withdraw and set its own athletics standards.
- The Court characterized the NCAA and UNLV as adverse in the enforcement process rather than joint participants implementing state policy.
- The Court observed the NCAA could penalize member institutions but lacked authority to directly discipline a member’s employees; employment consequences flowed from UNLV’s choices.
- The Court rejected the argument that heavy practical pressure on UNLV to comply made the NCAA’s decisions attributable to the state.

## Legal Principles

- A private association does not become a state actor merely because it regulates and enforces rules affecting a public university.
- “State action” requires conduct fairly attributable to the state; influence or leverage over a state entity, without state delegation or attribution, is insufficient.
- A state entity’s voluntary acceptance of private association rules, even under strong incentives to comply, does not transform those rules into state rules.
- Lack of direct governmental authority over an individual and lack of power to directly sanction that individual weigh against finding state action for § 1983 purposes.

## Conclusion

The Court held that the NCAA’s enforcement actions leading to a public university’s discipline of its coach were private conduct, not state action, so the NCAA was not subject to Fourteenth Amendment due process constraints or liability under § 1983.


Nat'l Collegiate Athletic Ass'n v. Tarkanian, 488 U.S. 179 (1988)