Denver Pioneers players celebrate their victory over the Boston College Eagles at the 2024 NCAA … (+)
With radical changes in the landscape surrounding NCAA athletes in all sports, the day of reckoning for college hockey may be imminent.
On August 12, attorneys for 19-year-old Rylan Masterson filed a class action lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Buffalo, NY. The suit names the NCAA and 10 Division I schools as defendants. It argues that the NCAA’s bylaw banning players who have played in any of the three major Canadian Hockey League junior leagues from playing college hockey is anti-competitive and “artificially suppresses player compensation and artificially creates less competitive leagues,” according to ESPN. “It is per se illegal under the antitrust laws, including because it constitutes a group boycott,” the suit continues.
Under current NCAA bylaws, players in the Western Hockey League, Ontario Hockey League and Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League are considered professionals because they receive a monthly stipend and players with signed NHL contracts participate in the league.
Yet the idea of amateurism in college sports is quickly becoming almost obliterated. When athletes were given the opportunity to monetize their name, image and likeness in 2021, former athletes sued for not being given that opportunity. In July 2024, the NCAA reached a class action settlement to pay out $2.75 billion over the next decade to college athletes who enrolled between 2016 and 2020. The settlement, which still needs to be signed by a federal judge, would also allow schools to make direct payments to their athletes in the future.
The lawsuit points out that current NCAA rules are inconsistent in defining professionalism from sport to sport, and that there are inconsistencies within hockey as well. Specifically, Tom Willander was allowed to join the Boston University Division I hockey team in the fall of 2023 after sitting out one game – even though he had played two games with top professional team Rogle BK in the Swedish Hockey League during the 2022-23 season.
Although Canadian Hockey League players are barred from NCAA hockey, Tom Willander was allowed … (+)
The door to the NCAA closed for Masterson after he played two preseason games with the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires in 2022. The lawsuit asks a judge to certify the members of the class, which would include anyone who has played hockey in the CHL or for a Division I school since Aug. 12, 2020.
Masterson’s lawsuit is the kind of suit that NCAA officials knew could upend the current structure of their hockey programs. And although there were talks earlier this year that the NCAA and CHL could work on a settlement that would create a new foundation for the future, the suit states that NCAA hockey coaches who would oversee such a decision decided not to vote on whether to keep the charter at their annual meeting in May. Instead, they formed a committee to oversee potential litigation.
If the lawsuit does indeed serve as an impetus to overturn the current bylaw and open the way for CHL players, the ramifications could be far-reaching. Even before college, more top talent could move from current NCAA feeder leagues like the USHL and BCHL to CHL teams, where the level of competition would likely be higher. But the change would also give the CHL’s top talent a chance to enter an NCAA program as they age, compete against stronger competition in their age group, and participate in the college experience.
NHL rules would also need to be adjusted, as they currently treat CHL and NCAA players very differently. For example, NHL teams that draft CHL players only retain their contract rights for two years, while NCAA players have a four-year window. And CHL players under the age of 20 are not allowed to play in the American Hockey League – they can only play for their NHL team or junior team.
Currently, if NCAA players turn pro before their 20th birthday, they are allowed to play in the AHL. However, a rule change could give them more flexibility in their careers after the draft. As it stands, they cannot participate in NHL training camps or games, either preseason or regular season, until they turn pro. And once they sign that pro contract, they cannot return to their college team, as players in the CHL can.
With so many stakeholders, determining the way forward seems like a complex and lengthy process, but Masterson’s motion is a warning shot that suggests the days of the current development pathways in professional hockey are numbered.
