Court Ruling Bars NCAA From Enforcing NIL Rules And Opens A Pandora’s Box For Recruiting

The NCAA was already on its last legs when it came to actual power to enforce its own rules.

But now a Tennessee judge may have finally delivered the fatal blow.

United States District Judge Clifton L. Corker delivered a preliminary injunction on Friday ruling that the NCAA was temporarily barred from enforcing any of its NIL rules.

“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 Police, the NCAA Bylaws, or any other authority to the extent such authority prohibits sutdent-athletes from negotiation compensation for NILL 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.

It is furhter ordered that, effective immediately, the NCAA is restrained and enjoined from enforcing the Rule of Restitution as applied to the foregoing NIL activities until a full and final decision on the merits in the instant action.”

TL;DR: The NCAA has no power to do anything with regards to policing NIL.

Court Sides Against NCAA With Regards To NIL Legislation

“Here, the situation requires no more and no less than permitting student-athletes to negotiate NIL deals with third parties prior to committing to a particular school. The NCAA fails to show how such relief will cause any harm that outweighs the irreparable harm that student-athletes will face in the absence of an injunction,” Judge Corker determined.

Now, it’s easy to point to the NCAA as the bad. In many cases, that assesment is correct. And the NCAA should have addressed this long before it reached this point.

But at a time of such uncertainty, having no overarching governing body to oversee college athletics seems wildly dangerous.

The current injunction is only temporary. But it gives a good look into the legal standing for each side.

The NCAA likely does not have the power to restrict NIL deals to the extinct to which they’ve attempted to do so. But without a collective bargaining agreement, it’s the only way to ensure there is any oversight at all.

Whether or not college athletes would agree to a CBA, however, is an entirely separate discussion. Until that point, it appears that all rules are off the table when it comes to NIL deals.