International Student-Athlete Background Searches: Amateur or Pro?

Do you really know if your international student-athletes are amateurs under NCAA rules? This issue is receiving heightened scrutiny, in part due to the publicity generated after some institutions had to vacate regular season and NCAA Championship contests and surrender awards due to the participation of one or more ineligible international student-athletes in several different sports. Many colleges and universities have already made investigating the amateurism backgrounds of international student-athletes a high priority. Presently, it is each institution's responsibility to certify the eligibility of international prospective student-athletes. This can result in different conclusions by different schools regarding the eligibility status of the same foreign athlete. Thus, one institution may decide not to recruit an athlete based on potential or actual NCAA issues identified through its research, while another school elects to certify the same athlete as eligible.

Significant Growth in International Student-Athlete Participation

The growth in the number and impact of international student-athletes competing at NCAA schools in a wide variety of sports has also increased the focus on proper certification. The NCAA has defined an international student-athlete as anyone who completed his or her secondary education in a foreign country (excluding students from American Samoa, the Canal Zone, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands). The latest comprehensive information on the scope of international student-athlete participation rates in all sports was the NCAA's "1996 NCAA Study of International Student-Athletes." The study reported that during the 1995-96 academic year 4,675 international athletes competed in Division I. However, it is likely that the number is substantially higher today based on the increase in basketball and soccer participation rates (as documented by the NCAA). Specifically, in 1995-96 there were 401 Division I international student-athletes competing in basketball (men's and women's) and 531 in soccer (men's and women's). By the 2003-04 academic year, those figures had increased to 695 competing in Division I basketball and 726 who competed in Division I soccer.

The Complexities of Certifying NCAA Amateurism Status

The certification of the eligibility of an international prospect, particularly the amateurism status, under NCAA rules is quite time consuming, especially when institutions recruit multiple international prospects each year. This evaluation requires international research in many areas, including:

(1) all sports participation, including all the teams a prospect has participated with and/or all individual events;

(2) the amateur/professional nature of each team and individual sporting events;

(3) the amateur/professional structure of a particular country's sports program;

(4) team rosters, standings and results;

(5) the expenses and other benefits the prospect may have received for participation in the sport; and

(6) other acts that could professionalize a prospect (e.g. employing an agent, signing a contract).

[Note: Under Division II and III legislation, participation with a foreign professional team may affect seasons of competition rather than eligibility.]

All of these aspects of foreign competition, if not properly reviewed and evaluated, could result in an erroneous certification of eligibility, the participation of an ineligible student-athlete in NCAA competition, and possible forfeiture or vacation of team records and/or individual awards. In conducting a background check of an international prospect, the goals are to identify any NCAA issues and to be able to demonstrate to the NCAA that the institution is practicing due diligence should any problem surface in the future, thereby hopefully avoiding any institutional control issues.

Proposed National Clearinghouse

NCAA Legislative Proposal 2004-60 (in Division I) would require the NCAA national office to formally certify the amateurism status of all international student-athletes to streamline the current process. The proposal's sponsors assert that by centralizing the certification process, countless hours of work would be saved and all schools would be afforded the same information on the international prospects being recruited. According to the sponsors, Proposal 2004-60, if adopted, would provide institutions relief and a safety net. However, the NCAA Division I Academics/Eligibility/ Compliance Cabinet and Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee have not supported the proposal as written due to budgetary concerns, although both agree with the concept. In February 2005, the NCAA Division I Agents and Amateurism Subcommittee of the Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet "emphasized that the philosophy that surrounds amateurism should not be compromised because of financial concerns and feasibility of an international amateurism clearinghouse [and] requested that the NCAA staff bring a potential clearinghouse model to the June meeting for review and with the anticipation of a recommendation being forwarded to the cabinet for review and discussion."

Exercising Due Diligence

In the meantime, many institutions have informally asked the NCAA national office for assistance and others have retained outside firms to conduct the background searches of international prospects. Regardless of an institution's means for conducting the background research, the key is to perform due diligence and make a good faith, thorough effort to gather as much reliable information as possible in order to make a truly informed decision on an international prospect's NCAA eligibility. For more information, please contact Robin Green Harris or Carrie McCaw.