Maurice Clarett

Maurice Clarett

Maurice Clarett is an astounding athlete and he was playing for the Ohio State Buckeyes football team during his freshman year in college. He helped lead his team to the NCAA National Championship game, where they defeated the Miami Hurricanes in a double overtime thriller. Clarett believed that he was ready for the NFL after rushing for 1237 yards and 16 touchdowns as a freshman and winning Big Ten Freshman of the Year Honors. He mentioned in a story that ESPN Magazine reported, that he might want to challenge the rule that you must be three years removed from your high school graduation in order to declare for the NFL Draft. It was also believed that Clarett was receiving improper benefits as a student athlete and an investigation was started. Clarett initially denied the rumors but then he said that it was true and that he was getting money and passing grades at Ohio State without doing much work at all. The Ohio State athletic director was furious about Clarett denying the rumors and "Clarett says he lied to save his coach's hide, lied because he thought his coach would convince Geiger (athletic director) to keep him eligible" (Friend). Now the truth was coming out and "Clarett accused coach Jim Tressel, his staff and school boosters of arranging for him to get passing grades, cars, and thousands of dollars, including for bogus summer jobs" (Associated Press 1). This controversy also helped make Clarett's decision to try and go pro because Ohio State was getting in trouble for what they did, and Clarett was not going to be able to play when the investigation was complete. With everything working against Clarett he decided to sue the NFL for not allowing him to be eligible for the NFL Draft. It was also believed that he would be able to win that court battle because of the weak collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and the NFL Players Association.

The initial ruling for this case was made fairly quickly and it was in favor of Maurice Clarett. Judge "Scheindlin basically decided that the NFL's eligibility rules were a classic restraint of trade, a violation of U.S. antitrust laws" (Paolantontio). This is similar to what happened in the NBA in 1971 when Spencer Haywood challenged the NBA draft eligibility rules, which opened the door for high school players to be eligible for the draft, which is still the case today. The reason that Haywood was initially allowed to enter the NBA was because he was "the sole wage earner in his struggling family, he was a "hardship case" and therefore had a right to begin earning his living and the Supreme Court ruled in Haywood's favor, forever altering professional basketball" (NBA Bio). When this ruling was made, other underclassman declared for the draft, most notably being Mike Williams, University of Southern California University standout wide receiver. The other seven players were not expected to be drafted but Mike Williams hired an agent and he was still in good standing with his college team, unlike Maurice Clarett who hired an agent but was not in good standing with his team.

The NFL quickly appealed the original ruling by Judge Scheindlin and on April 19th, 2004, They won their appeal on the basis that if the Supreme Court later says that underclassman can be eligible, they must hold a supplemental draft for those players. This announcement came five days before the NFL Draft of 2004 and came as a shock to Maurice Clarett and Mike Williams. The new ruling by the "2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a strongly worded stay of the lower court's ruling" (Paolantontio). The Court also said that the NFL was right in being able to regulate their draft and Clarett was quickly removed from the draft eligible players list. The NFL issued a statement saying from the NFL Executive Vice President Jeff Pash:

"We are pleased that the court has issued a stay. As the court order says, we have 'demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits.' We are grateful for the prompt attention the court has given to this matter and we await its decision on the merits. Pending that decision, Maurice Clarett, Mike Williams and the others who declared for the draft based on the earlier District Court decision are ineligible for this weekend's draft."(NFL.com).

The two parties in this case had several arguments in their support and defense. Clarett's lawyer argued and the original Judge agreed that the NFL couldn't keep competition out of the NFL just because of an age restriction that was set upon by people who were already in the NFL barring people from joining the NFL. This was an argument against the NFL players association saying they can't regulate the people who want to join and should allow anyone to join. Another issue raised was that the young players would to be able to handle the rigorous physical activity that football players endure. Clarett's lawyers claimed that he would be fine because he is a bigger athlete than most at his age and that he can handle the physical beating.

The collective bargaining agreement that was negotiated between the NFL and the NFL Players Association was made to help protect the players that are in the NFL. The age restriction helps the competition be competitive because it allows players to improve their skills at the college level before joining the pro level where most players have to be at the top physical condition to play at. The age restriction allows the fans to have a highly competitive game to watch without too many players still trying to drastically improve their game in front of the NFL audience. The agreement to have an age restriction was also something that was agreed upon by both parties involved so there shouldn't be a reason to believe that antitrust laws are being broken. The NFL Players Association still agrees that the player age restriction shouldn't be lifted to add players because there are still plenty of players that should be drafted without adding to the list with underclassman. This age restriction also will keep the players average career at a reasonable level for the athletes to make a decent living for a few years because the average NFL player's career is only around three or four years already. The other issue is the NFL Players Association is a union and that they can't make rulings for people outside the union. This union is protecting their players basically and "that's what unions do every day -- protect people in the union from those not in the union" (Zinser).

The issue of a younger player being able to physically meet the demands of professional football was also being debated. Clarett's lawyer argued that he was bigger than most players