Mark SchlabachESPN Senior Writer November 3, 2023, 12:54 PM ET4 minutes read
Twin brothers Matt and Ryan Bewley, former five-star prospects who signed to play basketball at Chicago State University this season, sued the NCAA in federal court after they were denied what they said was money was generated from her name, image and likeness during the competition for the Overtime Elite Academy.
The federal antitrust lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Chicago, accuses the NCAA of violating its own NIL guidelines, the Illinois Student-Athlete Endorsement Rights Act and federal antitrust laws.
The brothers, who lived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, before competing for Overtime Elite Academy in Atlanta, are seeking a temporary restraining order and temporary restraining order from a federal judge to be allowed to compete for Chicago State, which opens the season Monday at Bowling Green .
U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman has scheduled a hearing on the injunction for Tuesday.
Under pressure from state laws, the NCAA changed its rules in July 2021 to allow athletes to make money by selling the rights to their name, image and likeness. However, according to the lawsuit, the Bewleys were declared ineligible because the NCAA said they were paid a salary. According to an NCAA email cited in the lawsuit, the Overtime Elite twins’ compensation exceeded actual and necessary expenses permitted by NCAA rules; they competed for a team that considered itself professional; and they competed with and against other professionals.
The Bewleys’ lawyers claimed the twins sold their NIL rights to Overtime Elite Academy and received compensation in return.
“The NCAA simply ignores this undisputed fact because the compensation package in the Bewleys’ contract is described as ‘salary,’ while later versions of the OTE contract described the compensation as ‘scholarship,’ ‘financial aid,’ and NIL compensation,” the lawsuit is.
Overtime Elite (OTE) opened in fall 2021 with the goal of “providing an alternative path for athletes who want to play basketball at the next level,” according to its website.
In its inaugural 2021-22 season, in which the Bewley twins competed for the first time, OTE offered only professional opportunities. Players reportedly received a minimum salary of $100,000, but others received more. The following fall, the website states, “OTE began offering athletes a scholarship option – in lieu of salary – providing unparalleled development and training opportunities at OTE while maintaining college eligibility.”
Two former OTE players, twins Amen and Ausar Thompson, were the No. 4 and 5 picks in the June NBA Draft by the Rockets and Pistons, respectively.
According to documents filed in the case, the Bewley twins each received at least $33,333 per month while participating in the OTE during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons. In an email to Chicago State University associate athletic director Tom DeVinney, NCAA associate director Morgan Melchert wrote that the twins received $31,347, “more than what they could earn for their additional expenses.” per month”.
Melchert wrote that the average monthly expense in the United States is $5,577 per month, but because the Bewley twins received additional benefits, including housing, three meals a day, transportation reimbursement and educational benefits, they were only allowed $1,986 per month received to cover additional expenses.
“If a prospective student-athlete receives an amount in excess of what the respondent considers to be actual and necessary expenses, the NCAA proposes that it has the right to permanently ban the prospective student-athlete from intercollegiate athletic competition,” it states the lawsuit.
“Based on its prior communications with the Bewleys and Chicago State University, defendant made the arbitrary determination that the Bewleys received compensation from a professional team that was in excess of the NCAA’s actual and necessary threshold while their teammates received similar compensation from the same team were lawfully compensated in exchange for the use of their NIL.”
The NCAA and the Bewleys’ attorney, Dominique Price, did not respond to requests for comment from ESPN on Friday.
NCAA Bylaw 12.2.3.2.1 provides an exception that allows student-athletes in sports other than ice hockey and skiing to compete on a professional team “provided the individual receives no more than the actual and necessary costs of participation on the team.”
The Bewleys’ attorney argued in the complaint that the NCAA bylaws are an “artificial salary cap imposed on young athletes who wish to compete in intercollegiate athletics competitions at low cost.”
The lawyers accused the NCAA of using “selective enforcement” in declaring the Bewley twins because the governing body granted eligibility to two former overtime elite players: freshman guards Rob Dillingham of Kentucky and Kanaan Carlyle of Stanford . Carlyle and Dillingham played at Overtime Elite last season after a scholarship path became available.
“The NCAA cannot, through its actions, treat Overtime Elite as a showcase for an amateur high school and later declare it a professional league for only two specific individuals,” the lawyers wrote in a motion. “Such selective enforcement is an abuse of power that cannot withstand judicial scrutiny under the principle of reason.”
The brothers were the first players to sign with Overtime Elite after playing at West Oaks Academy in Orlando, Florida in 2020-21. Matt, a 6-foot-9 forward, was ranked as the No. 3 overall prospect and No. 1 power forward in the 2023 ESPN 300 before signing with Overtime Elite. Ryan was the No. 12 prospect and No. 6 power forward.
Chicago State, one of only two independent teams in Division I, went 11-20 last season. Cougars coach Gerald Gillion was the Twins’ AAU coach at Team Breakdown in Florida.