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WASHINGTON (AFP) – US lawmaker Steve Cohen sent letters to National Basketball Association commissioner David Stern and players union leader Billy Hunter seeking a repeal of the league's 19-year-old minimum age.
The Tennessee Democrat's pitch Wednesday came four days before the University of Memphis meets with US college sports officials over a scandal, one the NBA age minimum could have contributed to creating according to Cohen.
Cohen wants the age-19 and one year out of high school rules dropped in the next labor talks, saying they hold back players whose talent would enable them to begin a career earlier.
The limits are "an unfair restriction on the rights of these young men to pursue their intended career" according to Cohen, who says the plan "does far more to serve the financial interests of the universities... than the educational interests of the students themselves."
The current NBA labor deal remains in place through 2011.
The Tennessee Democrat's pitch Wednesday came four days before the University of Memphis meets with US college sports officials over a scandal, one the NBA age minimum could have contributed to creating according to Cohen.
Cohen wants the age-19 and one year out of high school rules dropped in the next labor talks, saying they hold back players whose talent would enable them to begin a career earlier.
The limits are "an unfair restriction on the rights of these young men to pursue their intended career" according to Cohen, who says the plan "does far more to serve the financial interests of the universities... than the educational interests of the students themselves."
The current NBA labor deal remains in place through 2011.
