TN and VA Lawsuit Against NCAA's Illegal Recruitment Ban Expands Coalition

NASHVILLE- On Wednesday, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, along with Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, announced that Florida, New York, and the District of Columbia have joined the multistate coalition challenging the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for violating federal antitrust laws with its anticompetitive restrictions on the ability of current and future student-athletes to benefit from their name, image, and likeness (NIL).

“We’re glad to keep fighting to protect student-athletes from illegal NCAA rules. I welcome the addition of our bipartisan partners to the case,” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said in a statement. “The ultimate goal is to get the lawyers out of this and let student-athletes compete under fair and clear rules, but in the meantime, we’ll do our part to move things in the right direction.”

Tennessee and Virginia filed this lawsuit in January, arguing that the NCAA violated antitrust laws in its enforcement of rules that unfairly restricted how student-athletes can commercially use their NIL at a critical juncture in the recruiting process. These anticompetitive restrictions violate the Sherman Act and harm the States and the welfare of their student-athletes. In February, the Eastern District Court of Tennessee granted the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction.

Tennessee and Virginia, now with Florida, New York, and Washington, D.C., will continue to litigate this case to the fullest extent necessary to ensure the NCAA’s monopoly cannot continue to harm Tennessee student-athletes.

The amended complaint can be read here.

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