STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — The NCAA imposed landmark sanctions against Penn State over the Jerry Sandusky sexual-abuse scandal in a cynical ploy to weaken the university and enhance its own dismal reputation, Pennsylvania’s governor claims in an unprecedented federal antitrust lawsuit against college sports’ governing body.
Gov. Tom Corbett said the NCAA veered dramatically from its own disciplinary rules and procedures when it decreed last summer that Penn State would pay a $60 million fine, and the football team would suffer a four-year postseason ban and a dramatic reduction in the number of athletic scholarships it could offer.
Corbett wants a federal judge to throw out the sanctions, saying they have harmed students, business owners and others who had nothing to do with Sandusky’s crimes against children.