NCAA Says Athletes Risk Losing Year of Eligibility After Federal Judge’s Ruling | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors
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The NCAA has responded to the federal ruling on transfer rules by announcing that any two-time transfer who competes during the 14-day temporary restraining order will risk losing a season of eligibility if the ruling is reversed, according to ESPN’s Jeff Borzello.
The NCAA on Thursday published a document answering questions about issues relating to Wednesday’s federal ruling, and one of the questions asks if the season of competition legislation applies to athletes who compete during the temporary restraining order.
“Yes,” the document says. “The 14-day TRO only enjoined Bylaw 14.5.5.1 and does not change the season of competition legislation.”
West Virginia Judge John Preston Bailey on Wednesday granted a 14-day restraining order against the NCAA, barring the governing body of college athletics from enforcing a rule that prevents two-time transfers from being immediately eligible with their new programs.
It has been more difficult for two-time transfers to become immediately eligible after the NCAA voted in January to restrict the number of waivers given to underclassmen who transfer twice.
The rule has caused plenty of controversy in college athletics, and one of the most high-profile two-time transfer cases involved North Carolina wide receiver Devontez Walker, who was initially prohibited from playing for the Tar Heels after transferring from NC Central to Kent State and Kent State to UNC.
Walker was ruled ineligible and proceeded to submit an appeal, which was initially denied by the NCAA before it allowed him to return to the field in October after receiving more information about his case.
West Virginia and six other states filed a lawsuit against the NCAA earlier this month alleging that the rules for two-time transfers violates the Sherman Antitrust Act and “unjustifiably restrains the ability of these college athletes to engage in the market for their labor as NCAA Division I college athletes.”
Federal antitrust laws “prohibit anticompetitive conduct and mergers that deprive American consumers, taxpayers, and workers of the benefits of competition,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
A hearing on the restraining order is scheduled for Dec. 27, according to Borzello.
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