On Friday, it was announced that Tennessee and Virginia won their preliminary injunction against the NCAA. This decision was made in the Eastern District Court of Tennessee.
With this decision now official, booster-funded NIL collectives in Tennessee and Virginia are allowed to communicate with high school recruits and players in the transfer portal.
“It is hereby ordered that, effective immediately, Defendant NCAA; its servants, agents and employees; and all persons in active concert or participation with the NCAA, are restrained and enjoined from enforcing the NCAA Interim NIL Policy, the NCAA Bylaws, or any other authority to the extent such authority prohibits student-athletes from negotiating compensation for NIL with any third-party entity, including but not limited to boosters or a collective of boosters, until a full and final decision on the merits in the instant action.”
Tennessee’s athletic department must have rejoiced when it heard the news this Friday. After all, the school argued that the NCAA enforced rules that “unfairly restrict how athletes can commercially use their name, image and likeness at a critical juncture in the recruiting calendar.”
As for the NCAA, this is yet another sign that its losing control in the NIL battle.
This Friday’s decision is just the start of this madness. Judge Clifton L. Corker said plaintiffs are “likely to succeed on the merits of their claim under the Sherman Act.”