The National Collegiate Athletic Association has been sued by two brothers who said they were unfairly barred from playing competitive team basketball for allegedly violating U.S. college sports rules that limit compensation and contracts for student athletes.
Twins Matthew Bewley and Ryan Bewley, who are 19, sued the NCAA on Wednesday in U.S. district court in Chicago. They are challenging the college sports governing body's decision denying their request for "amateur" status to play for Chicago State University.
The lawsuit said the NCAA blocked the Bewleys from playing college basketball based on compensation they "lawfully received in exchange for the use of their name, image, and likeness" before they enrolled this year at Chicago State.
A spokesperson for the NCAA on Thursday did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The litigation comes as the NCAA faces other lawsuits challenging prior or current restrictions on compensation for student athletes.
The NCAA in 2021 loosened its curbs on the ability of players to profit from advertising and merchandising deals with companies and other third parties.
Attorneys for the Bewleys did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In their complaint, the Bewleys said they accepted athletic scholarship offers from Chicago State, which is part of the NCAA's Division 1 top level for college sports.
Both brothers said they played for an elite basketball academy in Georgia before they enrolled at Chicago State, home to the Cougars. They and others with contracts with the academy received compensation, the lawsuit said.
The NCAA, according to the lawsuit, has claimed the Bewleys' compensation from the academy exceeded "actual and necessary" expenses and that they competed for a team that considered itself professional.
The Bewleys claim the NCAA made an "arbitrary determination that they received compensation from a professional team." They accused the NCAA of imposing a "wage cap" on aspiring athletes in violation of antitrust law.
The lawsuit claimed the NCAA had allowed other academy players, including former classmates and teammates of the Bewleys, to play college basketball.
The brothers are seeking an injunction against the NCAA "from enforcing their unlawful and anticompetitive regulations."
They also want damages including loss of endorsement opportunities and harm to their potential to be selected in a draft to play for a professional basketball team.
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