Tennessee and Virginia AGs File Antitrust Lawsuit Against NCAA Over New NIL Policies

Tennessee Attorney General (AG) Jonathan Skrmetti, along with Virginia AG Jason Miyares, has initiated a lawsuit against the NCAA in the U.S. District Court covering the Eastern District of Tennessee.

Tennessee and Virginia AGs Lawsuit Against NCAA

The lawsuit alleges that the NCAA had contravened the Sherman Antitrust Act by restricting current and future student-athletes from benefiting from their name, image, and likeness (NIL).

The lawsuit, which was filed on January 31, 2024, comes just a day after the news that the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) is investigating the University of Tennessee for NIL violations.

The genesis of the latest spurt in lawsuits can be traced to the NCAA v. Alston case in 2021 when the U.S. Supreme Court held that NCAA’s rules, in particular, the restrictions on compensating college athletes, come under the purview of the Sherman Act.

The landmark decision has increased manifold NCAA woes, and there is increasing pressure on the latter to loosen up some of its draconian and archaic rules.

The NCAA is also facing heat in the form of multistate lawsuits that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division has initiated for its transfer rules, as well as a number of suits pertaining to the employment status of athletes and the massive revenue generated by media rights deals for schools and conferences.

The latest lawsuit from Tennessee and Virginia comes down heavily on the NCAA’s ban on prospective college athletes during recruiting activities, as well as the fate of current college athletes looking to transfer to another school through the transfer portal with potential NIL benefits before enrollment.

Any check will ultimately lead to throttling competition among schools and third parties. The lawsuit also seeks an order declaring the NCAA’s NIL-recruiting ban contravening the Sherman Act. It also seeks a temporary restraining order (TRO) barring the NCAA from enforcing the ban.

Post the NCAA v. Alston case, Tennessee and Virginia have put in place laws that were enacted to protect student-athletes’ right to “earn compensation for the use of [their] own name, image, or likeness” at a “fair market value,” and bar athletic associations.

As the situation stands today, a decision in favor of Tennessee and Virginia will make things even more difficult, especially in the University of Tennessee, over alleged violations of rules, and the association will no longer be able to practice its writ within the state.

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