Still not camping

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2016/04/25/ncaa-satellite-camp-ban-us-department-of-justice-inquiry-college-football/83506978/

http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/report-satellite-camp-ban-will-be-reversed-possibly-friday

Wow.  Experience provides a different perspective:

Suppose the narrow focus of the informal inquiry is satellite camps--which as you suggest have much more limited dollar values associated with them and none of the TV revenue that oils the larger machine-- and that the DOJ begins with some interviews and written questions on the camps only.

Even at the informal stage, DOJ can request a huge swath of documents, such as emails, relating broadly to things such as "recruiting camps" or even "recruiting" from NCAA or conference front offices. Usually any investigated entity in that situation will bend over backwards to avoid a formal investigation and the virtually unlimited subpoena power that it brings (I've worked as counsel for companies under document production requests from the DOJ antitrust division and you have to make copies and produce everything, just everything). Your usual (smart) position is to say "Yes, Sir, anything you want and here are some delicious cookies to go with it."

Either way, anything the DOJ would see in those emails, for example, between NCAA's Emmert and SEC's Sankey, could implicate other lines of investigation that make the scope broader and broader. It spirals quickly if there's anything deemed to implicate anti-competitive behavior. What if Sankey and the commissioners have an email thread discussing TV contracts that each conference is supposed to negotiate independently? That would be a huge deal. It really is pulling the proverbial thread from the sweater.

A reasonable overview:

The ban was surely inspired by Harbaugh, a dynamic guy who loves to attract media attention and whose recruiting methods are both unorthodox and controversial. In January, at 12:01 a.m. – one minute after he was allowed to have contact with recruits – Harbaugh went to the house of high school kicker Quinn Nordin. He then had a sleepover with the family, then went to school with the Nordin the next day.