Attached is an article detailing college hockey’s ban on former Canadian Hockey League players joining its ranks, as well as the challenge to that ban. Personally, given the NCAA’s allowance for several years of college athletes accepting compensation, I’m a bit surprised it’s taken this long for court proceedings of this nature to take place. The NCAA’s position is that this rule exists to protect amateur athletics from professional influences. However, simultaneously it permits athletes in other NCAA-sanctioned sports to receive compensation from competing in the professional ranks of their sport. Therefore, the lawsuit takes aim at this practice by referring to it as nothing more than a group boycott rule designed to prevent high-end players from competing for a CHL-governed club, alleging that to be a clear violation of the federal Sherman Antitrust Act (Canada’s federal antitrust law is the Canadian Competition Act, adopted in 1985 and effective in 1986).
This article also points out the ramifications of a successful challenge to this rule, most notably the devastating effect it would have on the USHL and junior A hockey in general. Perhaps a ruling in favor of the complainants would result in collaborations involving both Hockey Canada and USA Hockey in order to avoid an all-out collapse of this structure.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5701011/2024/08/15/ncaa-chl-rule-lawsuit