What Recruiters Don’t Tell Athletes and Athletes Don’t Think to Ask: A Critique of the NCAA’s Nonacademic Eligibility Rules
13 Va. Sports & Ent. L.J. 240
35 Pages Posted: 12 Nov 2014
Date Written: April 19, 2014
Abstract
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) seeks to maintain “amateurism” as the basis for college sports by devising rules that prohibit or severely restrict college athletes from transferring from one institution to another, hiring an agent to assess their professional prospects, declaring themselves eligible for a professional draft while reserving the right to return to college play if not drafted, and be compensated for the commercial use of their names and likenesses. These rules can be traps for the unwary because college coaches and athletic directors, seeking to present their sports and their schools in the best possible light, are unlikely to mention them to recruits.
This article discusses the NCAA’s National Letter of Intent, transfer rules, “no-agent” rule, “no-draft” rule, and “no-endorsement” rule, explaining that they are designed primarily with the interests of coaches and athletic directors, not athletes, in mind. It advocates modifying all of these rules in ways that prioritize the academic and career goals of athletes, not the coaches’ need for a stable labor force, while preserving, indeed, enhancing a view of athletic participation as an important component of a college education.
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