I'm not sure, even with the proposed idea of 'moving' between the leagues and/or if this case is won by the plaintiff, if it really impacts USPORTS clubs.
USPORTS doesn't get the top CHL/NCAA talent, so if they start in the CHL and then move to an NCAA team (or vice versa) it has limited impact on the USPORTS league. Yes - there are ripples, different players moving up/down on the roster, but in most cases I believe the overage players remain as USPORTS' main demographic.
For each year a CHL player remains in the league, they get more tuition funds and an NCAA team is less likely to want them (their window to play and impact the team's success becomes smaller). So, I see this impacting the 16, 17 and 18 year-olds more.
The educational impacts are interesting, ...
... if you start in the CHL and go to NCAA, you have 1-3 years of CHL tuition funds available to offset any tuition imbalance between scholarships and tuition.
... if you start in the NCAA and go to CHL, you bring 1-3 years of a degree with you and possibly the program offers an AFA to cover the last 1-2 years.
Yes - a player can join an NCAA team at 21 and start their 5-year clock provided they have the academics to be accepted. They will have some classes completed as that's a requirement of the CHL program, but most NCAA programs generally don't look for these older players.
That's the question - would NCAA programs start to look for an older group of players to be 'leaders' or continue with their current scouting model? If a number of them choose to go 'older' that would impact USPORTS.
E.