COLLEGE ATHLETICS
Mountain West latest to announce it won't let pros play football
The conference adopted an eligibility rule as courts weigh whether professional athletes can return to college sports.
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The Mountain West conference on Thursday evening issued a statement saying the league, like many others in the past several days across the country, will prohibit professional athletes from playing football this season.
鈥淯nder the rule, a student-athlete shall be ineligible to represent a Mountain West institution in football if the individual: declares for a professional sports league draft and does not timely withdraw; appears on the roster of a professional sports league; or signs a contract with a professional sports league to provide athletic services,鈥� the statement read.
— Mountain West (@MountainWest)
The statement, and those of other leagues, comes on the heels of a wild week 鈥� and wild summer 鈥� of eligibility challenges in courts across the country essentially questioning when a player truly can or can't return to play college sports with the NCAA鈥檚 recent age-based 鈥渇ive-for-five鈥� ruling that allows players five years of college eligibility.
In recent weeks, players who have appeared on NBA Summer League rosters, on NFL training camp rosters and even more recently a handful of players who have even played on NFL or NBA teams, have been announcing deals with schools to come back to college to play.
Meanwhile, a Texas judge on Thursday put on hold an SEC rule that, like the Mountain West rule, seeks to stop professional players from returning to school. The Texas case involves more than 40 players.
鈥淎s long as they would have been eligible to continue playing college sports in the following semester if they had a fifth year of eligibility, they are eligible today,鈥� Dallas County Judge Martin Hoffman wrote in the temporary restraining order in that case 鈥� one likely to now be used as potential precedent in other cases across the country.
Conference-level rules differ from those implemented broadly by the NCAA.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Geoff Grammer is the Sports Editor of the Journal and covers UNM Lobos basketball, among other things. Reach him at ggrammer@abqjournal.com or follow him on Twitter (X) .
