FILE – This is a March 12, 2020, file photo showing NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis. The NCAA and many of its student-athletes are closely watching a court case in Pennsylvania that could determine whether Division I athletes should be paid for their time in the same way students are paid for work-study jobs. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The NCAA hopes a federal appeals court will soon block a lawsuit that seeks to treat athletes as employees who are paid for their time. It is the latest test of amateurism in college sports. The Division I athletes who filed the suit being argued next month want hourly wages similar to those earned in work-study programs. They say the nation’s colleges are violating fair labor practices by failing to pay them for the time they put into their sports. Baylor University President Linda Livingston, chairperson of the NCAA’s Board of Governors, says the idea would have a “potentially catastrophic impact on college sports.”