Skip to main content

Corporate League Expected to Relax Regulations On Transferring Teams

On Feb. 7 it was learned that the Japan Industrial Track and Field Association (JITA), the governing body of the nation's corporate running league, plans to relax regulations concerning athletes transferring teams. Currently, if a team does not grant an athlete an amicable release, the athlete is barred indefinitely from signing with another team. The new regulations are expected to reduce that period to a maximum of one year. The JITA Board of Directors is expected to formally approve the change on Feb. 8.

The rule indefinitely barring athletes from signing with another team without the consent of their former team was put in place due to cases in the past where teams fell apart due to runners' transfer to other teams. However, after examining the issue, the national Fair Trade Commission ruled that the regulations were a likely violation of antitrust law and asked the JITA to make changes. The weakness of the athletes' position and their resulting liability to abuses of power from above were also identified as problems. Under the new regulations, athletes will be free to sign with other teams and to participate in JITA-sponsored events after a one-year waiting period regardless of whether their previous team has granted them a release.

In addition, JITA plans to extend the deadline for registration of athletes eligible to participate in the New Year Ekiden national championships from the end of September to the end of December. If approved, the change will keep the market for athlete transfers open until right before the Jan. 1 race. This would allow athletes to compete for who they want, but there are concerns that it will result in smaller teams losing their star athletes.

source article:
https://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/202002070000803.html
translated by Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Metts said…
I think this can be both a positive and a negative. Its good that athletes can transfer, but like the last paragraph,sentence, mentions, it could hurt smaller teams. Especially if a start runner on a relatively small team jumps to a high-powered team. But has the smaller team even made to the New Year's Ekiden? If not, maybe its not a problem, but it is a problem, if the small team is counting on the star runner to help bring in more star runners the next year and so on. Either way the smaller team could lose out. But to be fair to the star runner, like in baseball, soccer etc. it gives them a chance to compete and run with more star runners if the opportunity was not there before.
February 8, 2020 at 12:32 PM
Unknown said…
This will be a win win to bigger teams especially in new year ekiden.advantages n disadvantage at the same times.
February 8, 2020 at 5:52 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

10000 m NR Attempt In the Works Saturday at Hachioji Long Distance - Streaming and Preview

There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and
Post a Comment
Read more

Queens Ekiden Streaming and Preview

Sunday is the first big race of championship ekiden season, the Queens Ekiden in Sendai, the season-ending national championship for corporate women. 24 teams race 42.195 km in 6 legs, with the top 8 scoring places for 2025. TBS' live nationwide broadcast starts at 11:50, with multi-camera streaming on Youtube above. Last year Sekisui Kagaku won by almost a minute and a half, and with Paris Olympian Yuma Yamamoto , 2023 World Championships marathoner Sayaka Sato on its entry list and collegiate 1500 m record holder Mizuki Michishita having come on board this season it looks like a contender for another win. But last year's runner-up Japan Post got a big boost this season with the addition of its first non-Japanese member, two-time double 1500 m and 3000 m high school champion Caroline Kariba . The Queens Ekiden limits non-Japanese athletes to a 3.8 km leg, so it'd be tough for Kariba to bridge a 1:25 gap by herself with that little ground to work with. But what she can
1 comment
Read more

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin
Post a Comment
Read more