NCAA Lawsuit: Major-Junior Hockey Player Eligibility

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is facing a lawsuit over its rule that prohibits players who have competed in a major-junior hockey league from playing NCAA hockey. The lawsuit, filed by Canadian junior hockey player Rylan Masterson, argues that the rule is anticompetitive and violates antitrust laws.

Masterson, 19, has played the past three seasons for the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Fort Erie Meteors and was named captain in September 2023. In 2022, Masterson appeared in two preseason games with the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires, which is a major-junior hockey league. That stint alone was enough to cost him future NCAA eligibility.

The NCAA has deemed any players competing in the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) – comprised of the OHL, WHL and QMJHL – as ineligible for the NCAA because there are players on those teams who have signed professional contracts with NHL teams. NCAA Bylaw 12.2.3.2 states that “an individual shall not be eligible for intercollegiate athletics in a sport if the individual ever competed on a professional team.”

The lawsuit argues that the NCAA and U.S. universities are anticompetitive in allowing the rule. It also notes that even pro athletes who have been financially compensated – such as swimmer Katie Ledecky – still retained NCAA eligibility.

The NCAA last conducted a review of its policies in 2023 and determined a legal vulnerability in a potential “boycott” of Canadian junior players. In Masterson’s lawsuit, it outlines how the NCAA told its coaches the choice was theirs as to whether the boycott should end. If enough coaches voted to do so, changes could be made. But so far, the coaches have refused to take a vote.

If Masterson’s suit were to be successful, it could change how the junior hockey pipeline works in years to come by allowing players to play hockey in both major-juniors and college.