NCAA challenges new Pennsylvania law

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SCRANTON, Pa., Feb. 20 (UPI) -- The NCAA Wednesday filed suit against a new Pennsylvania law mandating fines paid by Penn State in the Jerry Sandusky pedophile case stay within the state.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett signed the bill into law Wednesday, and only hours later the NCAA filed suit in federal court, claiming the state's Higher Education Consent Decree Endowment Act amounts to unconstitutional state legislative overreach.

The law demands the $60 million fine Penn State has agreed to pay the NCAA as a penalty for the child sex abuse perpetrated by the former Nittany Lions assistant football coach go into a state-controlled endowment instead.

The NCAA's suit asks that the law be stricken down as an illegal taking of private property and a restriction of interstate commerce.

"State governments can't simply pass laws to rewrite private agreements and divert private money to their own coffers," NCAA Chief Legal Officer Donald Remy said.

"If individual [NCAA] members or state lawmakers take it upon themselves to decide what sanctions are appropriate, simply to protect their home team, then collegiate sports would be dramatically altered," added NCAA President Mark Emmert.