As high school students end their winter sports schedules and spring sports participants begin play across the country, the role and significance of agents and their use by amateur athletes as they prepare for possible selection in the upcoming Major League Baseball (MLB) amateur draft and the NHL Entry Draft is once again front and
"NCAA Rules and regulations"
NCAA Changes Course: High School Baseball Draftees Allowed To Hire Agents
The NCAA has voted to modify its existing rules dramatically to permit high school baseball players drafted in the Major League Baseball (MLB) amateur draft to hire agents to negotiate contracts with the Major League teams that drafted the players, without sacrificing college eligibility should they fail to successfully negotiate a professional contract.
The NCAA’s…
The NCAA And Transgender Student-Athlete Participation
“Transgender” is an umbrella term for a person whose gender identity presentation is outside stereotypical gender norms and who may seek to change his or her physical characteristics through hormones, gender reassignment surgery, or other actions. Specifically, one’s internal psychological identification as a boy/man or girl/woman does not match the person’s sex at birth. For…
NCAA President Responds to Criticism of Enforcement Process
Responding to recent criticism of the effectiveness of the NCAA enforcement process, the Association’s President, Mark Emmert has defended the enforcement staff and its work.
Emmert’s response came in a memorandum to the NCAA Division I Board of Directors and all 32 Division I Commissioners. The memo appears to have been prompted by comments made…
NCAA Board Endorses More Autonomy For Five Largest Conferences
In an effort to restructure the Division I legislative system, the NCAA Board of Directors has endorsed a proposal that would give more power to schools in the five largest conferences in the NCAA.
The endorsement was presented as Northwestern University’s 76 voting eligible scholarship members of the football team prepared to participate in a…
If NCAA Scholarship Football Players Are Employees, What Are Coaches?…Supervisors?
The decision of the Regional Director of Region 13 of the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) that scholarship football players at Northwestern University are “employees” under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) has created an interesting question for all colleges and universities: Are members of coaching staffs now considered to be supervisors under the NLRA? …
NCAA Initiates Formal Changes to Student-Athlete Well-Being Rules
The NCAA Legislative Council has approved proposals for “student-athlete well-being rules.”
One proposed rule change would provide Division I student-athletes (both scholarship athletes and walk-ons) with unlimited meals and snacks in conjunction with their athletics participation. Under current NCAA rules, schools can provide three meals per day or a stipend for those meals to scholarship…
New Antitrust Suit Takes Aim at NCAA Model
The NCAA’s amateurism model is once again under fire — this time in an antitrust lawsuit filed by sports labor attorney Jeffrey Kessler. Kessler, on behalf of four named current men’s basketball and football players (Clemson football player Martin Jenkins, Rutgers basketball player Johnathan Moore, Texas El-Paso football player Kevin Perry, and University of California…
NCAA Issues Half-Game Penalty To Heisman Winner For Bylaw Violation
Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel has been suspended for the first half of Texas A&M’s season opening game for an “inadvertent” violation of NCAA rules. The NCAA and Texas A&M announced that Manziel would receive the minor penalty because there is no evidence that Manziel received money in exchange for signing autographs, based on currently…
NCAA Reverses Decision, Rules Ex-Marine Eligible For 2013 Season
The NCAA has reversed its initial ruling declaring former Marine and current freshman Steve Rhodes ineligible to play football for Middle Tennessee State University this season because of his participation in a military recreational football league during his five years of military service. Rhodes has been cleared to resume practice and prepare for his team’s…