Saturday, June 25, 2005

NBA Draft Age Ban Discussion

See Update 7/28/2005: NBA Player Arrest Study and Age/Education

Some quick hits:


Omar Kelly of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel discusses the issue (Kelly, "Preps Pipeline Closing," 6/25/05). He discusses my view and that of Professor Bob Jarvis:

Michael McCann, an incoming professor at Mississippi College School of Law and a member of Clarett's legal team, believes a similar anti-trust lawsuit against the NBA is imminent, possibly coming as early as next season from a player with the 7-foot Oden's stature. McCann believes that case would have more merit than Clarett's because of the league's history.

"The road for this has been paved by the Clarett decision," said Bob Jarvis, a sports law professor at Nova Southeastern University, who is writing a book, Sports Stories, which takes a look at prominent sports legal cases. "If Clarett had gone the other way, the NBA wouldn't even think of doing this."
Emily Badger of the Orlando Sentinel also discusses the issue (Badger, "Pro Leagues Not Immune to Labor Woes," 6/25/05), and cites remarks from Professor Joe Rosen--Partner of Orpheus Sports and Entertainment Consulting Company in Boston and adjunct sports law professor at Boston College Law School--as well as Professor Paul Haagen, co-director of the Center for Sports Law and Policy at Duke University School of Law:
"When agents and players see the amount of money going into teams with huge TV contracts, huge sponsorship deals, group licensing deals, when they see all the money going to the owners, players think, 'We should be entitled to that. We need to deal with this on the labor front,'" said Joe Rosen, a lawyer and partner in the Orpheus Sports and Entertainment consulting company in Boston.

"Stability in economics leads to stability in labor relations," said Paul Haagen, co-director of the Center for Sports Law and Policy at Duke University's school of law.
Also, Professor Rich Karcher--director of the Center for Law and Sports at Florida Coastal School of Law--responds to Greg's excellent post below and raises several excellent points of his own:
I have to take exception to Greg's opinions on the new NBA age limit. Even though it's only a one year difference, it's so much better for the clubs because they don't have to spend the resources scouting high school games and they get to see the kids in a much more competitive D-1 environment so it eliminates a lot of the risk that's involved in scouting/assessing high school talent. I don't agree with Greg's "one and done" argument that, because players will go pro after one year, colleges will be discouraged from taking the high school superstars. In fact, I think the reverse will happen. Under the 18 year rule (just like in baseball), colleges are hesitant to sign the elite players because they risk losing a scholarship if the player signs a letter of intent and ends up going pro after high school. Under the new rule, there's no risk of losing the scholarship. In addition, there's always the possibility that the college coach will be able to convince the player that it is in his best interest not to go pro after only one year of college.

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