The N.C.A.A. said on Saturday that it was appealing a Federal District Court’s decision this month that barring athletes from being paid beyond a scholarship and related costs violated antitrust law.

“We believe, and the Supreme Court has recognized, that N.C.A.A. member schools and conferences are best positioned to strengthen and revise their rules to better support student-athletes, rather than forcing these issues into continuous litigation,” Donald Remy, the N.C.A.A.’s chief legal officer, said in a statement.

Remy said the decision to appeal, by the N.C.A.A. and the major college conferences named as defendants in the suit, was unanimous.

The ruling this month by Judge Claudia Wilken in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California was actually far more favorable to the N.C.A.A. than the plaintiffs, a class of Division I men’s and women’s basketball players and football players, had hoped.