Taking It To Court: State of Tennessee And Virginia File Lawsuit Against The NCAA For NIL-Related Actions

The NCAA has found itself in the crosshairs of the State of Tennessee and Virginia this morning, with the two states filing a lawsuit against the governing body. Following a scolding statement from chancellor Donde Plowman on Monday, the University of Tennessee is now taking its fight regarding NIL straight to court.

The antitrust case was filed Wednesday morning, and makes it clear that they want the NCAA to stay out of the athletes' way when it comes to making money though NIL. The complaint also notes that the NCAA is not allowing the athletes to profit in a market that includes the transfer portal.

"The NCAA is thumbing its nose at the law," the complaint reads. "After allowing NIL licensing to emerge nationwide, the NCAA is trying to stop that market from functioning."

The lawsuit filed wants the court system to grant a temporary restraining order against the NCAA to stop enforcing rules pertaining to NIL enforcement.

"Permanent injunction barring the NCAA from enforcing its NIL-recruiting ban or taking any other action to prevent prospective college athletes and transfer candidates from engaging in meaningful NIL discussions prior to enrollment."

Read the full complaint here:

One of the key parts of the lawsuit is on behalf of players who enter the transfer portal but are not allowed to discuss NIL opportunities before they enroll at a particular school. It's clear that lawmakers in both states are trying to send a message that the NCAA should not have this much power when it comes to future earnings of student-athletes.

"By restricting NIL discussions for prospective college athletes, the NCAA’s current policy restricts schools from competing to arrange NIL compensation for prospective college athletes and suppresses athletes’ NIL compensation by deterring the free movement of labor."

The state of Tennessee filed a lawsuit against the NCAA regarding alleged NIL violations by the University of Tennessee.

Tennessee Chancellor Donde Plowman Told NCAA To Prepare For Battle

After the NCAA started to investigate Tennessee for perceived NIL improprieties related to the recruitment of quarterback Nico Iamaleava, the Vols athletic department made it crystal clear that a fight was coming.

To make matters worse for the NCAA, according to Plowman's remarks, not a single Tennessee employee or athlete violated any rules pertaining to NIL. This was a clear sign that the enforcement staff is going to allege that the Spyre Group, a Tennessee collective, had broken rules in recruiting Iamaleava.

Chancellor Donde Plowman took the NCAA to task in a scathing rebuttal to the enforcement staff's presumptive actions that would see Tennessee hit with the dreaded "lack of institutional control." Just six months ago, University officials and the NCAA sat in a Louisville hotel to discuss the investigation into Jeremy Pruitt.

From day one, Tennessee brought the NCAA inside its house while the school's legal counsel investigated a laundry list of allegations against the football program. Working together, the school kept the NCAA up to date on every single detail that was found during its investigation, even before the firing of Pruitt.

“It is inconceivable that our institution’s leadership would be cited as an example of exemplary leadership in July 2023, then as a cautionary example of a lack of institutional control only six months later," Plowman noted on Monday.

After sitting down with the NCAA's enforcement staff this past Monday to discuss the alleged violations, both sides obviously did not see the situation in the same light.

"The NCAA’s allegations are factually untrue and procedurally flawed,” Donde Plowman wrote. “Moreover, it is intellectually dishonest for the NCAA enforcement staff to pursue infractions cases as if student-athletes have no NIL rights and as if institutions all have been functioning post-Alston with a clear and unchanging set of rules and willfully violating them.”

This part of the statement alone made it abundantly clear that Tennessee wasn't going to wait on a notice of allegations. The fight was going to start immediately.