ACC becomes fourth and final power conference to bar pro players from coming back to college

It took three days for the nation's four powerful athletic conferences to dig in on banning players who were on NFL rosters from returning to college football. The hope is it offers order amid the chaos growing through legal challenges and the pursuit of loopholes to NCAA eligibility rules.

The Atlantic Coast Conference joined its peers in the Big 12, Big Ten and Southeastern Conference on Thursday by approving a ban that also covers professional athletes seeking to return to college to play men's or women's college basketball. The Big Ten and SEC implemented their plans Tuesday, while the Big 12’s ruling followed Wednesday.

In its statement, the ACC said its board of directors had unanimously adopted its resolution.

“The board’s action reflects the ACC’s commitment to preserving college sports as an opportunity for college students that is clearly distinct from professional sports, protecting opportunities for current and future student-athletes, and promoting competitive equity,” the league said.

This all has been in response to a rule change passed by the NCAA granting future athletes five years of eligibility. The change has spawned lawsuits seeking to open that rule to players whose four-year careers ended earlier this year — even leading to the once unthinkable notion of players leaving college, signing with professional teams and then returning to college.

At least two players who signed with NFL teams as undrafted free agents this offseason were hoping to play for No. 11 LSU.

“Just to me, that’s kind of a cutoff, when a guy goes pro,” N.C. State football coach Dave Doeren said after Thursday’s practice and before the ACC adopted its policy. “And we say ‘Goodbye, good luck,’ and we move on. And there shouldn’t be the ability to come back. If it’s the Big Ten, SEC — it doesn’t matter to me: it’s an amateurism rule."

The ACC's plan lays out guidelines for ineligibility

Under the ACC resolution, a school is not permitted to include an individual on its football or men’s or women’s basketball roster when he or she:

— Has previously declared for an NFL, NBA, or WNBA draft and did not appropriately withdraw consistent with NCAA requirements to retain eligibility;

— Signed a contract with the NFL (or other professional football league), NBA/G-League, WNBA (or affiliate) or any team that is a member of any such league.

— Been listed on any roster for an NFL (or other professional football league), NBA/G-League, or WNBA (or affiliate) team.

Generally, the conferences covering the top teams in college sports have all adopted a similar stance in seeking to head off the NFL issue with the college football season set to begin with Week Zero games this weekend. But their structures vary.

The Big 12's rule bars its schools from adding professional athletes in football or any other conference-sponsored sport. The league said its rule would apply independently of the status of NCAA eligibility determinations. The SEC banned players who have been drafted by NFL, NBA or WNBA teams or listed on rosters in those leagues. The Big Ten only included football in its decision and was expected to later address other sports.

On Wednesday, the NFL made it clear that players who leave the NFL to return to college won’t be allowed to come back to the league this season.

Conference-level rules differ from those implemented broadly by the NCAA

There are a number of court cases around the country that are still pending against the NCAA, whose initial ban on pro players dates back more than 100 years.

The question now is whether those players and their attorneys will decide to challenge rules now being set at a conference level.

“I think where this case is headed is nowhere,” said Rick Karcher, a faculty athletics representative at Eastern Michigan and former practicing attorney in sports law. “From an antitrust perspective, as long as conferences aren’t colluding, they can make their own rules about allowing, or not allowing, former professional players to compete.

“And regardless of any injunction order that may be issued, it doesn’t require any school to allow any player to compete on the field and I highly doubt that any schools are going to violate conference rules.”

This is the second time this year that conferences have banded together to essentially stop something that was proceeding desipte NCAA rules against it.

Transfer quarterback Brendan Sorby hoped to play at Texas Tech despite violating NCAA rules against gambling. He won a temporary injunction against the NCAA to compete, though the Big 12 had filed a complaint in U.S. District Court seeking an order backing its ability to use its bylaws for possible sanctions against Texas Tech. Sorsby eventually decided not to play and focus on making an NFL team next season.

“We don't know for 100% certainty but I think that the conference-level rules have a much better chance of withstanding legal attack than NCAA rules do,” said Mit Winter, an attorney who specializes in sports law. "Because it's conference by conference deciding to set these rules, it's really hard to argue that any one conference has market power. To have a successful antitrust claim, the person you're suing has to have market power.”

AP College Football Writer Eric Olson contributed to this report.