CLARETT WINS SUIT
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James Joyner | Thursday, February 5, 2004 |
Interesting: Judge Says Clarett Can Be in NFL Draft
A federal judge today ordered the National Football League to allow former Ohio State tailback Maurice Clarett to enter the draft in April.In a 70-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Shira A. Scheindlin said the league’s draft eligibility rule, which prohibits a player from entering the draft until three years after high school, violates anti-trust laws.
The NFL has vigorously defended the rule, hoping to avoid the sort of infusion of young players into the league that has created problems for the NBA, and almost certainly will appeal the ruling. Gene Upshaw, the head of the NFL Players Association, said repeatedly that he was against Clarett being allowed to enter the draft.
Good. I don’t have any background in labor law, so don’t know what impact the fact that the NFL and the Players’ Association have agreed to the exclusion has, but it seems fundamentally unfair to exclude an adult for a rather arbitrary reason.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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Bad Idea- Maybe the legal case supports it but it is still a bad idea. The NFL is no place for kids.
Horrible idea in fact...
Most people have no perception of how physical the NFL is. If teenagers enter the NFL, it is no exaggeration to say that some of them will be killed. This ain't baseball.
Yeah--but the market should take care of that. Teams won't draft kids that aren't ready. Certainly not for long.
Isn't it true though that there are more high school football players killed each year in the US on the field, than are in school shootings?
And how many would go right from the high school field into the starting lineup?
Under a free market private businesses should be able to make the rules as to who can and can't be employed. Hypothetically, I may be one heck of a salesman, but a bookstore doesn't have to hire me because I admit to them I'm illiterate.
You can't use the monopoly argument because Clarett could see if the CFL, Arena Football League, or some semi-pro league would take him.
But the NFL isn't an employer, it's a cartel. As long as no collusion is involved, there's nothing to prevent, say, the New England Patriots to decide they'll only draft those over 21. But it's virtually certain that, given the opportunity, an NFL team would take Clarett in the 1st or 2nd round.
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