States join Tennessee, Virginia in NIL lawsuit against NCAA

Tennessee and Virginia amended their complaint against the NCAA on Wednesday morning, adding three states as plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Florida, New York and the District of Columbia joined the two states in the legal battle. The Eastern District Court of Tennessee in Greenville, Tennessee, granted a preliminary injunction against the NCAA in February. The decision allows booster-funded NIL collectives to communicate with high school recruits and transfer portal players before making commitments and enrolling.

In the wake of the preliminary injunction halting the NCAA’s power to prohibit recruits and transfer portal athletes from negotiating their NIL, President Charlie Baker issued updated guidance in March to membership that all investigations involving third-party NIL collectives were paused.

The additions of Florida, New York and the District of Columbia do not come as a surprise. The U.S. Department of Justice and four states signed on to a lawsuit in the Northern District of West Virginia District Court challenging the NCAA’s transfer eligibility rule in January.

The NCAA list of legal battles continues to stack up. The rulings in West Virginia and Tennessee leave the governing body toothless in overseeing NIL and the transfer portal. The House v. NCAA case continues to loom. ESPN reported earlier this week intense negotiations on settlement talks have begun with the possibility of future revenue sharing on the table. That antitrust lawsuit is slated to begin in early 2025.

According to the New York Times, the NCAA’s search at Tennessee centered around the use of a private plane to fly Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava to Knoxville while he was a recruit, with funds for the plane raised by boosters.

“We will litigate this case to the fullest extent necessary to ensure the NCAA’s monopoly cannot continue to harm Tennessee student-athletes,” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said when the preliminary injunction was granted. “The NCAA is not above the law, and the law is on our side.”