wm72

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You’re forgetting the pesky little bylaw that separate from these, that once you do go to college, you cannot declare for a pro draft

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That's actually point #2 in my post above.

This case is the first I know of to go after that and it's big.

It's the one the NCAA will need to argue doesn't punish players who choose to pursue college instead of pro ball in Europe at 18 years old in an "arbitrary and capricious" manner.

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I’m going to highly doubt a roleplaying guy off the bench is earning well over the league average, even if Barcelona is paying over market value.

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I'm going to highly doubt he left over a million on the table from the NBA if he wasn't getting at least a large percentage of that from Barca in the 4 year contract he signed after the NBA draft.

Most salient point would seem that it's steep enough for Bediako's lawyers to use as an example.

The Supreme Court has basically said that the NCAA is subject to antitrust laws just like everyone else.

Seems the only eventual recourse to create enforceable rules is to make athletes employees and agree to those rules by collective bargaining.

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The NBA contract line is being drawn because their minimum salaries are going to be in violation of the "actual and necessary expense" threshold. Similarly,they do not allow international players to come if they've made too much money, which they've done before.

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You're starting to get into the weeds of why Bediako got the temporary restraining order.

The Baylor guy came from FC Barcelona where base salaries are actually higher than average NBA/G-League two way deals and some other Euro players granted recent eligibility were making 200-300k per season.

The guys mentioned in the Bediako case are mentioned specifically because they were making more than him or around the same amount.

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On the surface think pretty much everyone agrees it's not the kind of thing that should be allowed to happen.

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I agree.

Also, don't think a 26 year old basketball player should be playing for his 5th team over an 8 year college career.

Nor, a team with an average age of 25 should be playing college football.

Nor, a 23 year old seasoned professional European currently being a Freshman basketball player.

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how is this "strained logic"? That's kind of the whole point, this is a novel situation. The kid went pro and left college ball 2+ years ago?

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I'm not trying to argue it should happen. I've really just been repeating what the arguments are in the actual case and why -- just like with most of the others the NCAA will likely lose.

To oversimplify: That the NCAA now allows professional Euro/G League basketball players to play and has never prohibited players from taking breaks and returning is going to make it tough for them to hold that arbitrary line of merely being eligible for the draft and playing in the G league on a certain type of contract as the one a player can't cross.

Not saying I agree but that's the way all of these cases have gone because these lines are so "arbitrary" and "inconsistently" employed. Which is mainly all the Bediako case needs to argue even though it's more complex as regards foreign players/ NIL etc.

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he already played in college.

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So did all the players who, for example, went to college and played college baseball. Then signed and played minor league baseball and ultimately came back to college and played QB for the football team.

There's never been a general rule about leaving college and then returning no matter how much one repeats it.


The specific NCAA bylaws have always been specific to becoming a professional in the same sport you are playing in college.

Again, that's why the NCAA interpreting their own bylaws to allow ex G-League players and 23 year old professional Euro players has opened this door.

You are right that these 2 different things (return to college + professional in same sport) have never been tested before but, again, the NCAA has permitted both by their own interpretation of their bylaws.

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Which specific contract would that be?

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NBA/G League 2-way contract instead of only a G league contract, I believe. Again, what the Bediako case argues as an "arbitrary and inconsistent" distinction.

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Contract isn't really the issue here.

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It would seem that the NCAA's interpretation of their bylaw has put it at issue.

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As of now, no player has ever been allowed to "return" to collegiate eligibility after turning pro and signing a contract.

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That you need to keep adding the "return to college" is already a good example of the strained logic inherent in allowing some previously professional basketball players to play but not others.

Tons of players have left college for a year and "turned pro" in the sense that they went to work and were compensated and then returned. My own brother went to year of JUCO, signed a minor league baseball contract and came back to college and played on the golf team.

Again, the specific difference here is whether that "work" has been under one specific type of NBA contract since the Euro/G League exceptions have already thrown professional basketball contract in general out as a disqualifier.

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Nope, this is a fundamental misunderstanding of the NCAA bylaw.

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What you seem to not acknowledge here is simply that the case/courts are not trying to "understand" the NCAA bylaw but decide if the bylaw does what the Bediako case contends: make an "arbitrary and inconsistent" distinction regarding the type of professional contract.

Of course, you're aware that NCAA has recently had tons of bylaws that did not stand up to court challenges.

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I just think it sucks that anytime anyone doesn't like a rule they go to court. This is a governing body of universities that is trying to make fair rules for kids to play sports when they are in college and we have moved so far away from college kids playing sports against each other in the spare time while they are in college, to professional athletes making millions of dollars who don't even go to school. It's not college athletics any longer. I'm not blaming Bama. The money has fricked it all up.

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Mainly: investors who aren't even part of the colleges making billions of dollars in an industry built around "college kids playing sports against each other in their spare time"

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Because they do not have high school or college sports the same way we do in America?

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Literally all you got to do is recruit an Euro Pro if you want one.

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Well, a major part of Bediako's case is that NIL limitations due to him being a foreign player were at root of all his decisions.

NCAA granting Euro and certain G League players eligibility is where Bediako can pretty easily show the arbitrariness of those rule applications / limitaions.

It's a huge mess but the way you frame it is which "team" gets an advantage but the way the courts have to see it is in terms of the individual player filing suit.

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Bediako is the same age as Indiana's average roster age. Alabama didn't create this problem.

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Exactly.

How are people expecting judges to rule when you have the NCAA saying it's about high school recruits for one certain guy while other teams have 23 year old freshmen that played pro ball for 3 seasons and media is celebrating a team of 24 year old football players winning the title?