NIT Goes Trust Busting: In attempt to resurrect the No. 2 post-season tournament, the financial backers of the National Invitation Tournament are suing the NCAA because they believe it has “willfully, deliberately set out to get a monopoly.” The five schools that back the pre-season and post-season NIT tournaments are Fordham, Manhattan, St. John’s, Wagner and New York University.
In response, the NCAA’s lawyers argue that the presidents of those schools are merely trying to get more money for their schools at the expense of the nearly 1,000 other schools that participate in NCAA tournaments. The current system has been in place since the 1960s when the NIT agreed to let the NCAA pick teams first for its tournament. The NCAA now requires schools to participate in only one post-season tournament, which NIT lawyers say establishes a monopoly. NCAA officials have considered repealing the rule, but they fear organizers of another tournament, including the NIT, could potentially create rigged tournaments that would produce the most attractive national championship game.
[8/3/05]
