Staff and Wire Reports
A federal judge in Columbus, Ohio has ruled that it’s too soon to determine whether the NCAA’s rules restricting participation in certain non-conference basketball tournaments violate federal antitrust laws.
U.S. District Judge Edmund Sargus Jr. denied a request by a group of tournament promoters and organizers for a preliminary injunction which would have blocked the NCAA restriction limiting Division I schools to two such tournaments in four years.
NCAA conference commissioners adopted the rule two years ago for so-called exempt events, which count as one game on a school’s 28-game schedule regardless of how many games a team actually plays.
These events include the Maui Invitational, Great Alaska Shootout, Preseason NIT and Coaches vs. Cancer Classic.
The University of New Mexico had hoped to host an exempt tournament this year at The Pit.
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The tournament, which would have taken place Dec. 6-7, would have given the Lobos the possibility of bringing in a high-profile Division I school.
Because of the decision, UNM will have to settle for its scheduled game against Indiana University-Purdue University-Fort Wayne.
Exempt events began in the 1950s as a way to get teams to play in places such as Hawai’i, because multiple-game tournaments would make the expensive trip worthwhile.
Sargus’ ruling, issued Friday, said the issue would be revisited later. His ruling said that because the NCAA limitation has been in effect only two years, its impact can’t be fully assessed.
The ruling indicated that any harm caused by the restriction is likely to occur in the third or fourth years.
“The court cannot conclusively determine at this juncture whether plaintiffs will be able to show injury of the sort that the antitrust law is designed to prevent,’’ Sargus wrote.
The lawsuit was brought by Cincinnati-based Worldwide Basketball, Sports Tours Inc., Dorna Sports Promotions, LLC and the Gazelle Group.
Those groups have organized or promoted such preseason tournaments as the Las Vegas Classic, the San Juan Shootout, the Coaches vs. Cancer event and the National Association of Basketball Coaches Classic.
They said that if high-profile teams such as Duke, Kansas and Arizona can play only two such events in a four-year period, then spots in tournaments must be filled by teams that attract less fan interest.
The NCAA has denied claims by the tournament organizers that it’s trying to eliminate those events and shift more revenues to the NCAA and its member schools.
