U.S. Department of Justice Challenges NCAA Transfer Rule

PHOTO BY LISA WORTHY

The United States Justice Department has joined a lawsuit challenging the NCAA Transfer Eligibility Rule. As previously reported, a coalition of seven states’ attorneys general filed the suit in December, alleging that the “transfer rule’s waiver process violates federal antitrust law.” Since then, the DOJ and four more attorneys general have joined in, filing an amended complaint.

In December, a judge in West Virginia, where the suit was filed, issued a temporary restraining order on the basis that the NCAA Transfer Eligibility Rule likely violates the Sherman Act, a national antitrust law. The rule in question requires student-athletes who transfer DI institutions more than once to sit out of a year of competition before being eligible to compete for their new college.

Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division said in a DOJ statement, “College athletes should be able to freely choose the institutions that best meet their academic, personal and professional development needs without anticompetitive restrictions that limit their mobility by sacrificing a year of athletic competition.”

The amended complaint builds on the existing lawsuit, alleging specifically that the transfer rule “unreasonably restrains competition in the markets for athletic services in men’s and women’s Division I basketball and Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) football, as well as for athletic services in all other men’s and women’s Division I sports.” The complaint continues, alleging that “the restriction limits college athletes’ bargaining power and harms both their educational and athletic experiences.”

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