Canadian hockey player begins lawsuit against the entire NCAA

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Daniel Lucente
August 15, 2024 (1:36 PM)

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Team captain of the Fort Erie Otters Rylan Masterson is suing the NCAA and 10 universities. He initiated a class action lawsuit for anti-trust violations.

Rylan Masterson is a young Canadian hockey player and he has just started a class action lawsuit against the NCAA who he claims is violating anti-trust laws by blocking anyone who has played for a major junior team from ever entering the US college hockey system. He is asking any other players who feel they have been impacted by this to join him in the lawsuit.

Rylan Masterson played two exhibition games for the Ontario Hockey League's (OHL) Windsor Spitfires in 2022, which cost him his ability to ever play hockey in the NCAA according to their rules, which are the one's he wants to fight.

TSN's Rick Westhead explained that the NCAA did have a review of their rules in 2023, and advised all Division I coaches that they could opt out of the "boycott" if they wanted to. In order for the ban to end, a majority of coaches would have had to vote in favor of opting out, but that didn't happen, so the rule remained in place.

"The lawsuit also pointed out instances where pro athletes have competed in NCAA sports. Boston University's Tom Willander played pro hockey in Sweden before enrolling in the NCAA school, the lawsuit said, adding tennis players can make as much as $10K per year without losing NCAA eligibility. Other athletes such as swimmers Katie Ledecky and Joseph Schooling received $115K and $740K respectively for their athletic achievements yet retained NCAA eligibility, the lawsuit said."

There is no word yet as to when a trial will take place as a date has not been set yet. These rules that Rylan Masterson is trying to fight have been in place for a very long time and many in the hockey community are aware of them. But as we've seen in the past regarding other rules, just because something has been in place for decades doesn't mean it's okay anymore. As the years go on, people need to learn to adapt to change.

Source: Blades of Steel
Canadian hockey player launches class-action lawsuit against NCAA