"The N.C.A.A. on Monday restored Penn State’s postseason eligibility, removing one of the final hurdles in its football team’s path back to normalcy in the aftermath of the child sexual abuse scandal that engulfed the university nearly three years ago.
The decision by the N.C.A.A.’s executive committee means that Penn State will be allowed to participate in a bowl game this season, if it qualifies. It also restores all the scholarships that it stripped from the team."
The state passed a law forcing the NCAA to return the 60 million dollars to Pennsylvania, with interest.
"the N.C.A.A. announced it was withdrawing its challenge to a Pennsylvania state law that sought to redirect the N.C.A.A.’s $60 million fine from a national endowment for sexual-abuse survivors administered by the N.C.A.A. into a Pennsylvania endowment — where that money will now head.
“The money will stay here in Pennsylvania where it belongs,” said Jake Corman, a Pennsylvania state senator who had sued the N.C.A.A."
http://www.espn.com/college-footbal...drops-postseason-ban-penn-state-nittany-lions
After being sued,
the NCAA rolled back the sanctions in January 2015:
Paterno had 111 wins returned to him, again making him the all-time wins leader for a head coach at the FBS level. The $60 million fine will stay in Pennsylvania. The
scholarship limits and post-season play ban were earlier removed.
http://www.pennlive.com/sports/index.ssf/2015/07/penn_state_football_sanctioned.html
So the massive sanctions were:
1. There were 111 wins forfeited. Those were reinstated.
2. Loss of scholarships. The NCAA had to return all of those.
3. Post season ban. The NCAA had to allow Penn State to participate.
4. 60 million dollar fine that the NCAA directed to a national abuse endowment. That was returned to Penn State with interest.
5. You are reading this as if the NCAA had a choice. They were losing in court, that is why it was done.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...-joe-paterno-lawsuit-consent-decree/21723591/
Covey also outlined that the NCAA entering in to a Consent Decree with Penn State with a fine of over $10 million causes a burden to the state government that oversees 32 university institutions.
“An institution of higher education freely giving away funds is completely different than an institution of higher education paying money to a non-governmental entity that possess the authority to demand payment,” according to court documents.
Corman said in a press release issued Wednesday he is pleased with the court’s ruling in his favor.
“It appears the Court, in reviewing the NCAA challenge, has called into question the validity of the consent decree itself,” Corman said in the release. “This is an important development in the case and coincides with many calls for more scrutiny on the matter.”
Covey argued the NCAA had “questionable and dubious authority” when issuing the consent decree, because former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was no longer working for the university and the involved children were not affiliated with the university.
http://www.collegian.psu.edu/news/crime_courts/article_64f2ffc6-c046-11e3-b042-0017a43b2370.html
Understand that the NCAA and Penn State were both defendants, not plaintiffs in this litigation. It was the state legislature who acted to force the consent decree's modification and the funds returned, etc.