NCAA Class Action Says School Transfer Rules Violate Antitrust Laws

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The National Collegiate Athletic Association faces an antitrust class action lawsuit filed by a former Northwestern University basketball player who takes issue with rules that restrict the ability of an NCAA student athlete to freely transfer schools, an alleged violation of federal antitrust laws.

Plaintiff Johnnie Vassar filed the antitrust class action lawsuit against the NCAA and Northwestern University on Nov. 14 in Illinois federal court. He claims that the NCAA and its member schools have entered into an agreement under which a school must grant permission for a student athlete to transfer schools.

If the school fails to grant permission for the transfer, the student athlete must wait a year before he or she will be allowed to play elsewhere with an athletic scholarship, the NCAA class action lawsuit states.

“Sitting out a year decreases (or outright eliminates) the ability of athletes to transfer because many schools want athletes who can play immediately, and subjects the athlete to a year without an athletic scholarship or forces them to transfer to a lower level division,” Vassar argues in the NCAA class action lawsuit.

“On the other hand, non student athletes, even those who can be stars in a given academic field, are free to transfer with a new scholarship without waiting a year,” Vassar states.

He also argues that coaches are free to transfer schools and obtain new contracts without waiting a year. Vassar claims that only Division I basketball, football and hockey players are affected by the NCAA’s transfer restrictions.

According to the NCAA class action lawsuit, the plaintiff joined Northwestern during the 2014-15 basketball season. Vassar claims he was “run off” the Northwestern basketball team by May 5, 2016, because the coach no longer wanted his services.

“In doing so, Northwestern freed up the guaranteed multi-year athletic scholarship that it provided to him as the sweetener to get him to join the school’s academic and basketball programs,” the NCAA class action lawsuit states.

However, Vassar claims that Northwestern “engaged in a shady, dirty, and underhanded pattern of behavior” over the course of the year in order to provide his scholarship to another player. According to the NCAA class action lawsuit, Northwestern was subject to a NCAA-imposed 13-scholarship limit.

Vassar states he was berated, told he had no future, and basically coerced to leave the team. He claims that he was pressured into signing a blank “Roster Deletion” form that would indicate he was “voluntarily withdrawing” from the team, and that he was asked about his willingness to accept a cash payment to leave.

According to the NCAA class action lawsuit, he was also offered an “internship” under which he would work as a janitor instead of training for the basketball team. Further, he claims the “internship” timecards were falsified to make it appear as if Vassar had engaged in misconduct.

Vassar claims he reached out to multiple Division I basketball programs regarding the possibility of transfer, but he was informed that they would only take him if he could play right away. Because he was prohibited by the NCAA from playing for a year, the other programs were not interested in Vassar.

As a result, he is no longer a member of a Division I basketball team, he no longer has an athletic scholarship, and he must train on his own to maintain his competitive basketball skills.

By filing the NCAA class action lawsuit, Vassar seeks to represent a Class that includes: “All individuals who, from November 10, 2012, to the present, have sought to transfer from one NCAA Division I basketball school to another NCAA Division I basketball school, and pursuant to NCAA transfer rules, were considered to be, or would have been considered to be, athletically ineligible to participate in NCAA Division I athletics for any period of time.”

Vassar is represented by Steve W. Berman, Elizabeth A. Fegan and Daniel Kurowski of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP.

The NCAA Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit is John Vassar v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, et al., Case No. 1:16-cv-10590, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.