NHL hit with antitrust class action over youth league restrictions
Feb 14 (Reuters) – The National Hockey League and three major junior leagues were sued on Wednesday over claims that they unlawfully restrict compensation and employment mobility for thousands of teenage players in violation of U.S. antitrust law.
The proposed class action lawsuit, opens new tab was filed in Manhattan federal court by two former players in the junior hockey leagues, which admit athletes aged 16 to 20 and are seen as a path to professional play.
The World Association of Icehockey Players Unions North America Division is also a named plaintiff.
The lawsuit contends that the NHL and other defendants conspired to suppress player compensation and agreed to impose “no poach” agreements that restrict player movement within the leagues.
“To their great shame, the NHL not only enables the exploitation of children, but financially benefits from this system,” Ethan Litwin of Constantine Cannon, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said in a statement.
The defendants did not respond to requests for comment. In addition to the NHL, they include the Canada-based Western Hockey League, Ontario Major Junior Hockey League, Québec Maritimes Junior Hockey League, and umbrella organization Canadian Hockey League (CHL).
Major junior hockey generates hundreds of millions of dollars annually, the lawsuit said. It said the case challenges a system that treats “teenaged athletes as the property of the Major Junior Clubs that control those players’ rights and their futures.”
The defendants unlawfully set up exclusive geographic territories in which players are recruited for five-year contracts, limiting their mobility, the plaintiffs said.
The complaint seeks unspecified monetary damages and a court injunction against alleged anticompetitive conduct for a potential class comprising thousands of current and former players.
The case is World Association of Icehockey Players Unions North America Division et al v. National Hockey League et al, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 1:24-cv-01066.
For plaintiffs: Jeffrey Shinder and Ethan Litwin of Constantine Cannon; Judith Zahid of Zelle; Stacey Leyton of Altshuler Berzon; Gregory Asciolla of DiCello Levitt; Steve Shadowen of Hilliard Shadowen; and Paul Slater of Sperling & Slater
For defendants: No appearances yet
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Reporting by Mike Scarcella
