Court upholds
NCAA’s 2-in-4 rule

Teams are allowed to play two
tournaments every four years

Sports promoters suffered a setback in the courtroom yesterday when an appeals court in Cincinnati upheld an NCAA rule limiting tournament appearances involving Division I basketball teams.

But the survival of the "2-in-4 rule" shouldn't hurt the University of Hawaii's Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic, according to UH associate coach Bob Nash.

"I don't see it as a negative," Nash said yesterday. "Obviously there's going to be some years when you don't have as good teams, but the NCAA is trying to bring parity where the big schools don't always go to the tournaments. Now you have to bring in some of the non-household names. I think that helps college basketball."

The rule limits teams to two certified tournaments in four years. Each Division I school is limited to 28 regular-season games, but can appear in more games by playing in exempt tournaments -- such as the Rainbow Classic and Maui Invitational -- as each event counts as one game against the NCAA limit.

An antitrust lawsuit was filed by sports promoters, who argued the rule prevented them from inviting teams to more tournaments.

But the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the promoters failed to show a violation of antitrust law because they didn't define a market in which the rule could be anticompetitive. That ruling reversed a 2003 decision in favor of the promoters, prompting an NCAA appeal.

The rule affected this year's Rainbow Classic as Louisiana State was originally slated to play in the tournament. When a review showed the Tigers had already played in two certified events in the last four years, they were replaced by Oral Roberts.

But by putting limits on tournament appearances, the rule has pared the number of tournaments, which could ultimately benefit UH. Unlike the promoter-sponsored events, UH handles the operations of the Rainbow Classic.

"It limits the pool of teams that can go to tournaments if you have a proliferation of these events," Nash said. "Now it's shortened the spectrum so if teams want to go, they'll want to go where a university will sponsor them.

"You're still going to have teams who want to go to exotic places and hopefully they'll still consider us and Maui and Alaska, which the rule was originally intended for."