I agree 100% when the COMPANIES, not company, in question do not have a monopoly on the industry. The Feds having a hand in this is part of the NFL's anti-trust exemption with the US government. Part of that anti-trust exemption agreement is that the NFL has to have a collective bargaining agreement with the players union. Clarett's Lawyers are challenging that collective bargaining agreement is illegal.
As far as I know, baseball is the only sport that has an anti-trust exemption. But too put race in this mix is BS, no one should ever be discriminated against due to their race, origin, color, etc., for any reason by any company.
I'm not sure what company you work for, but private companies DO NOT get to make their own employment decisions. Ever heard of this little thing called Employment Discrimination? Can your employer refuse to hire (or fire) someone based solely on their age? Can they get away with hiring only white men? I doubt it! The NFL will eventually have to prove that this age restriction is a bona fide occupational qualification ... it'll be interesting to see if they can do so.
According to this ESPN article, there is a chance they can come back to college ... http://sports.espn.go.com/nfldraft/draft04/news/story?id=1785560
alaman, you're correct that the players union played a significant role in the outcome of the Appeals Court's ruling. The player's union position is that they are protecting it's membership from those that are not members Of course the NFL supports the position for economic reasons - they don't want their product diluted.
It isn't really age discrimination the way it is worded. A pice I read a few weeks ago was talking about the experience factor and that the NFL's stand is based on the fact that most players apllying to get in the NFL will go to college or juco and get at least 3 years experience in a collge setting, games and practice, and that helps them to become more qualified to play in the NFL, just like many institutions which require applicants to have a certain amount of either experience or have passed a certain amount of college courses or have gone through special ed/training,etc. I have no idea on whether any of these things are legal but it would seem that if it isn't legal for the NFL than it shouldn't be legal for any other profession.
With regard to Willimas and Claretts' eligiblity, I think Williams will be given the opportunity to get back in since he didn't quit USC till after the first ruling and the NCAA and NFL have been looking at this and have known this could happen. Now, there also appears to be the fact that he was not doing to well in his classes according to a professor at USC and the NCAA may add something in their ruling on him that he has to go to summer school in order to prove that he is making progress towards a degree (even though everyone knows he doesn't intend on getting one). Clarett on the other hand I don't think was making progress towards a degree before the court ruling and may be treated entirely different as the NCAA has said they will look at each case individually.
You just described the BFOQ, which I'm sure the NFL will argue. Many companies place age requirements on certain jobs because of business necessity. The best example I've seen is a courier ... many will not hire under the age of 21 because of the statistical proof that 18-21 y/o are more likely to be in an accident or get a ticket, which drives up insurance costs. The burden will be on the NFL to prove this age restriction is legitimate...
Yes and No. Baseball's antitrust exemption is far and away more expansive than any of the other major sports, but all sports associations are granted limited antitrust exemptions. That's why they can negotiate and a group for things like television contracts. Here's a link to a site with more info. http://www.ipwatchdog.com/antitrustbasics.htm
It doesn't say anything about the collective bargaining agreement in this little piece but I would have to guess that if you found the entire legislation somewhere it may mention it. Funny though how baseball has such a much broader exemption than football but football acts much more like one corporation than baseball with the salary cap, more restrictive on free agency, more pooling of money, etc. And the NFL is a much better and stronger league, especially as far as competitve balance is concerned.
