NCAA Freshman Ban May Not Be Problematic

Letter to the Editor:

June 15, 1999

Mark,

As usual Sports Law News deals with issues in the field that are on the cutting edge and often not reported upon in any meaningful matter in the regular media.

However, in regard to the article about the NCAA's possible rules change (click here) denying freshman eligibility in basketball it seems to me that regardless of the recent cases (i.e. Cureton), the cases dealing with UNLV have already solved the problem. The individual schools as state actors could not be sued indirectly in an attempt to contest such a rules change, this is exactly what was attempted in the UNLV cases and failed. Moreover, the Supreme Court in Smith was very clear that in order to be amenable to such federal laws the NCAA must receive federal funds either directly or indirectly. Cureton is a lower court case which can easily be settled by the NCAA before reaching the Supreme Court by merely changing entrance requirements. The lower federal court only disagreed with the scale chosen it did not find that such rules were violations of federal law. Regardless, at least for the next few years (assuming Cureton may reach the the Supreme Court and be upheld), Smith trumps Cureton and its possible extension beyond entrance eligibility requirements.

Therefore, any age limitation rule for basketball players could not be challenged by surreptitiously attempting to make the NCAA a state actor, this issue has been decided, the NCAA is not. And until the Supreme Court says otherwise, the NCAA cannot be attacked as such.

Paul M. Anderson

Assistant Director, National Sports Law Institute

Adjunct Assistant Professor of Law, Marquette University Law School