B. David Ridpath

Our team @SandbergPhoenix (and awesome local Arizona counsel Beus O’Connor McGroder!) are proud to represent Jonathan Griman, a Venezuelan immigrant and Arizona State student who the NCAA denied a year of eligibility under a national team exemption waiver.    Rather than applying the plain text of the bylaw as written, which clearly qualified Jonathan for the relief, the NCAA denied his waiver by retroactively applying extratextual staff guidance issued in May 2026 to a 2023 enrollment.    The NCAA denied Jonathan a waiver (1) because he spent a year at the NBA Academy at 17 years old at the urging of his national team Federation and (2) unable to afford a student visa. Jonathan only went to the NBA Academy because he had nowhere else to go due to a unprecedented economic and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela at the time, leaving his family suffering intense poverty, food insecurity, and political persecution.  The NCAA also ruled that despite his being a 16- and 17-year-old minor unable to leave his country, they did not feel Jonathan's delayed enrollment was due to "circumstances outside his control."   This case is a textbook example of how the NCAA arbitrarily exercises its waiver authority, and we are pleased with the ruling of the Court in granting Jonathan a preliminary injunction so that he can play for Arizona State and future Hall of Fame coach Randy Bennett this season.