Breaking down what injunction against NCAA’s NIL rules means moving forward

In the Eastern District Court of Tennessee on Friday, judge Clifton L. Corker handed down a landmark ruling. He granted a preliminary injunction against the NCAA’s NIL rules after the Tennessee and Virginia attorneys general filed suit challenging those guidelines.

As a result of the decision, the NIL rules cannot be enforced in those states until either the case either settles or goes to trial. That means collectives and schools can discuss NIL with high school recruits and transfer portal players – which goes against the current rules in place.

In light of Corker’s ruling, On3’s Andy Staples said there will likely be major changes coming.

“Basically, the NCAA and the schools are going to have to come up with a new system,” Staples said on Andy Staples On3. “They’re gonna have to figure out a new way to handle NIL rules because here’s what the heart of this case was. It was basically saying that it goes against the Sherman Antitrust Act for the schools to collude to make rules that don’t allow for athletes to find out what their NIL value is from schools before they get on campus. They should be able to learn that information to make those deals, to discuss those sorts of things, before they get on campus, is what the judge said.

“It’s sort of like if you apply for a job, and you’re granted the job – or actually, if multiple companies are competing to hire you, and they all offer you jobs. But they say, we can’t tell you what your salary is until you show up for your first day of work. It didn’t make a lot of sense, it doesn’t make a lot of sense now and Clifton Corker said that rule does not apply.”

How the Tennessee-Virginia case could impact NIL collectives

Under the current NCAA rules, collectives exist as third parties to help facilitate deals with athletes instead of leaving that up to the schools themselves. They also cannot communicate with recruits before they sign, and that was the subject of multiple NIL-related investigations.

At Tennessee, Nico Iamaleava’s recruitment came under scrutiny because of a flight on a plane reportedly funded by a booster. Earlier, at Florida State, offensive coordinator Alex Atkins received a suspension after allegedly driving a recruit to meet with a collective. But the Tennessee case against the NCAA likely came about because the Volunteers had to avoid repeat-violator status after the Jeremy Pruitt situation, Staples said.

Now, it’s now creating a domino effect.

“What this will do is allow the schools to do what they’re already doing, but now they can do it in the open,” Staples said. “And it also may allow them to get rid of the middlemen. You may not necessarily need collectives anymore. If we’re just admitting that this is the schools giving players money to come play sports – which is what what it is – why can’t the schools just do it themselves? It would make a lot more sense.

“Why would you need a collective, a group attached to a school? Why would you need to hit up your donors double to say hey, give the school some money so we can build a building, but give the collective money so we can pay the players? This allows for a much more streamlined approach if the schools are smart enough to do it and if they just quit fighting the inevitable.”

Andy Staples: Preliminary injunction against NCAA will ‘speed up the inevitable’

The inevitable, of course, would be deeming athletes as employees. That would allow schools to sign them to contracts, thus likely cutting down on the amount of movement and the need for player retention. It would also be in compliance with the Sherman Antitrust Act – and the NCAA wouldn’t need Congress’ help.

“What’s going to happen eventually? Eventually, the players are going to be employees, they’re going to sign contracts, there’s going to be a collective bargaining agreement,” Staples said. “That’s gonna happen because it’s the only way to make rules that will not run afoul of the Sherman Act. All of the rules of schools make before they do that are going to get dragged into court and the same thing that happened Friday is going to happen to those rules. So the schools just need to understand if they’re going to put restrictions on these things, it needs to be collectively bargained with the athletes. Otherwise, they just need to let it go and they need to negotiate directly with the athletes.

“They need to run NIL through the schools themselves. There doesn’t need to be these layers because we know why you’re paying them. We understand. That’s already come and gone. The Rubicon has been crossed. It’s okay. So Clifton Corker’s ruling, all that does is speed up the inevitable.”