NIL lawyer: NCAA eligibility rules could reach Supreme Court

Former Charleston forward Ante Brzovic has been denied his request for a preliminary injunction against the NCAA to allow him to play a fifth season after spending one year at the JUCO level. That decision is coming from the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina (4th Circuit).

Now, NIL lawyer Darren Heitner has weighed in on the decision, cautioning that this issue will likely find its way to the Supreme Court. That’s because other districts have had significantly different decisions in similar cases, relating to the NCAA’s eligibility rules and the Five-Year Rule.

In particular, Heitner pointed to Jett Elad. A Rutgers defensive back who spent time at the JUCO ranks, Elad looked for a similar injunction against the NCAA to allow him to play this upcoming season. That was ruled on by the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey (3rd Circuit).

The key difference in the two cases is that the courts that heard the cases took largely different approaches. The Elad court relied heavily on NCAA v. Alston and the post-Alston landscape of NIL compensation. However, the Brzovic court disagreed. Instead, the South Carolina court ruled that there is no “binding legal authority” to show that the Five-Year Rule is subject to antitrust law.

Since one circuit court’s decisions are not binding in another circuit. Even within a circuit, it’s only considered that the ruling would have persuasive authority. So, Darren Heitner believes there could be a brewing legal fight over the issue that could go as far as the Supreme Court.

“The Elad decision acknowledged a split among district courts on whether NCAA eligibility rules such as the Five-Year Rule are commercial and subject to antitrust law post-Alston,” Heitner wrote. “While that court (as well as Fourqurean and Pavia) said yes, the Brzovic court (as well as Goldstein and others) said no. There is no uniform binding precedent and the Brzovic court’s acknowledgment of that, along with a clear split among district courts, illustrates that this is something that will be decided at the appellate level and potentially in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.”

The JUCO rule has been consistently challenged in recent months. Perhaps the most high-profile of those cases was Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia. He was granted his preliminary injunction against the NCAA. However, it’s clear that each legal battle is going to be a little bit different until there is a clearer legal precedent set by higher courts.