Seeking fifth year of eligibility, two St. John's men's basketball players sue NCAA

In the wake of the NCAA denying their waiver requests, two St. John’s men’s basketball players – Chris Ledlum and Jordan Dingle – are suing the association, seeking a fifth year of eligibility.

In a lawsuit filed Friday in Queens (New York) Supreme Court, the players seek injunctive relief, alleging violations of New York antitrust and NIL laws and claiming they are suffering “irreparable harm” from the NCAA rejecting their waiver requests.

This is the latest complaint against the NCAA, which faces mounting legal challenges across virtually every sector touched by its governance. This suit shines a spotlight on NIL opportunities and the much-criticized narrow transfer portal window, with a focus on what plaintiffs’ lawyers call the NCAA’s “inequitable application” of its COVID-19 waiver.

The college basketball careers of Ledlum and Dingle trace back to the Ivy League. 

During the 2019-2020 season, Ledlum played for Harvard and Dingle for Penn before the threat of COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Tournament.

Unlike athletes in other conferences, both players did not have the chance to compete during the following season because the Ivy League canceled the 2020-2021 season amid concerns related to the ongoing pandemic.

The complaint details that the NCAA afforded student-athletes who were able to compete during the 2020-2021 season – under what is called the COVID waiver – five seasons of competition eligibility instead of the usual four seasons.

The waiver was “arbitrarily” available only to athletes who competed during the 2020-2021 season, the lawsuit states, adding that it meant that athletes who competed at schools that elected not to compete that season were not granted a fifth year of eligibility.

Both Ledlum and Dingle played this past season at St. John’s. Both had their waiver requests for a fifth year of eligibility denied by the NCAA, the suit states. 

🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/a1qtgxXDYN

— Chris Ledlum (@chris_ledlum) April 17, 2024

Suit: NCAA’s actions ‘constrain’ players’ NIL ability

The suit details how the basketball transfer window runs from March 18 to May 1. As the complaint notes, schools nationwide are currently making a multitude of decisions regarding retaining athletes and adding others from the portal.

As a result, the suit states, that because St. John’s is forced to assume neither player will be eligible next season, their spots will be filled. The same goes for most spots on team rosters nationwide, the complaint said, making it difficult, if not impossible to transfer to another program.

Because the NCAA denied their waiver requests to compete in the 2024-25 season, Ledlum and Dingle both declared for the NBA Draft. 

The complaint asserts that the NCAA’s actions “threaten and constrain” the players’ ability to access their NIL opportunities because of the NCAA’s “arbitrary and capricious” decisions denying their eligibility. 

The suit alleges the NCAA violated the Donnelly Act; the New York State Human Rights Law; and the New York State Education Law right to pursue higher education and name, image and likeness. 

The suit states that the players “bring their suit for a temporary restraining order and injunctive relief to enjoin the NCAA from enforcing its arbitrary and capricious application of its eligibility requirements so that plaintiffs may be restored to their previous status as an eligible NCAA athlete.”