NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Legal Newsline) - Limits on the Name, Image and Likeness market for collegiate athletes likely violate antitrust laws, a federal judge has ruled in a lawsuit brought by the attorneys general of Tennessee and Virginia.
Judge Clifton Corker on Feb. 23 granted a temporary restraining order against the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Rule of Restitution, which he says harms student-athletes.
The rule prohibited NIL collectives - made up of fans, alumni and businesses - from negotiating with student-athletes during the recruiting and transfer processes. It now can't be enforced while the rest of the case plays out.
The president of the Antitrust Education Project hailed Corker's decision to upend the NIL market.
"The sound you hear is the squeal of a thousand Nikes as athletes race for their phones. This is not just good theater, it is good law," Robert Bork, Jr. said.
"There was no reason to uphold NCAA's prohibitions while athletes are making decisions that will impact their whole lives."
Tennessee AG Jonathan Skrmetti and Virginia AG Jason Miyares went to court in January to challenge the rule, alleging violationof the Sherman Act. Skrmetti said student-athletes are entitled to rules that "are clear and rules that are fair."
"College sports wouldn't exist without college athletes, and those students shouldn't be left behind while everybody else involved prospers."
The NCAA claimed its rule kept vulnerable student-athletes from entering into abuse and unfair agreements, but Corker rejected that argument.
"(T)he Court's role in this action is not to question whether competition is good or bad," he wrote.
"Although protecting student-athletes from exploitation is undoubtedly a legitimate concern, 'social justifications' for a restraint of trade 'do not make it any less unlawful.'
"(T)h challenged restraints likely foster economic exploitation of student-athletes by suppressing their negotiating leverage."