Sports: HSers May Be Able to Enter NFL Draft

[AKA2D '91]

Judge: Clarett Is Eligible for NFL Draft
2 hours, 7 minutes ago

By CHAKA FERGUSON, Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK - Ohio State star Maurice Clarett was given an opening to run through — all the way to the NFL.



A federal judge gave the running back and other teenage football players the opportunity to turn pro by declaring Thursday that an NFL rule barring their eligibility violates antitrust law and "must be sacked."


"I was pleased that the rule was brought down," Clarett said at a news conference. "It gives kids an opportunity to choose."


U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin said legal issues are so clearly in Clarett's favor a trial is unnecessary. The NFL said it will appeal, and it will probably try to block the ruling before the April draft.


Clarett's lawyer, Alan Milstein, called it a "total victory."


Clarett declined to say whether he'll enter the April draft after his lawyers advised him that Ohio State has warned even a declaration to join the NFL would rule out any chance of returning to college ball.


Not being able to play football the past year has been hard, Clarett said, but added that the time off allowed his body to rest.


"I've been playing football since I was 5," he said. "It's been stressful."


Jeff Pash, the executive vice president of the NFL, said the ruling left him "really surprised" but confident on appeal because its findings contradicted those of past court rulings.


Clarett sued the league last year to challenge its 1990 rule that a player must be out of high school three years to enter the draft.


The ruling, if it holds up on appeal, means that high school football players and college underclassmen will be able to make the jump to the pros just like their counterparts in the NBA.


Dozens of basketball players, including Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, have gone to the NBA straight after high school in recent years, becoming instant celebrities and signing shoe endorsement deals that make them millionaires before the ink is dry on their high school diplomas.


"Somebody broke the rule for LeBron a long time ago. It's just another option," Clarett said.


Scheindlin wrote that the NFL rule "is precisely the sort of conduct that the antitrust laws were designed to prevent."


"One can scarcely think of a more blatantly anticompetitive policy than one that excludes certain competitors from the market altogether," she wrote.


Clarett, a 20-year-old sophomore, played just one season at Ohio State, leading the Buckeyes to the 2002 national championship. He was barred from playing in the 2003 season for accepting improper benefits from a family friend and then lying to investigators about it.


Ohio State would have to petition the NCAA to allow Clarett to return for the 2004 season, and it is unclear whether the school would succeed. The court ruling came a day after Ohio State said it was investigating an ESPN.com report that the family friend was gambling while in daily contact with Clarett during the 2002 season.

At the news conference, Clarett declined to comment on those charges. So, why go through all of this if you are NOT going to enter the NFL draft?

Clarett would be prevented from entering the NFL draft until 2005 under current rules.

His lawyers had called the rule arbitrary and anticompetitive, arguing it robbed players like Clarett of an opportunity to enter the multimillion-dollar marketplace.

Scheindlin noted courts had already eliminated similar age-based rules violating antitrust laws in professional basketball and hockey. She said the NFL had kept one in effect since Illinois' star running back, Harold "Red" Grange, left school in 1925 to join the Chicago Bears (news) for $50,000.

The league argued that Clarett should not be eligible for the draft because its rule resulted from a collective bargaining agreement with the players and is immune from antitrust scrutiny.

"We believe today's ruling is inconsistent in numerous respects with well-established labor and antitrust law," the league said.

No other player has challenged the eligibility rule, which was supported by some of the league's coaches and executives. They say younger players aren't physically ready for the NFL, although the 6-foot, 230-pound Clarett could be an exception.

"I don't know that the floodgates are opening," Pash said. "While the ruling is broad in its language, I think we have to wait and see what the effect is."