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Two-Minute Drill: Recapping the injunction hearing

On3 imageby: Brent Hubbs02/13/24Brent_Hubbs
Tennessee Football
KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 24, 2022 - Fans during the game between the Florida Gators and the Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, TN. Photo By Cayce Smith/Tennessee Athletics

GREENEVILLE — For right at an hour, attorney’s for the NCAA and with the attorney general’s office in the state of Tennessee and Virginia made their case in front of federal judge Clifton Corker.

The attorney general arguing that a prospective student athlete suffers irreparable damages by not having to ability to leverage their NIL deals before signing to play for a school. The NCAA argues that’s an inducement. The state of Tennessee and Virginia are seeking an injuction that would freeze the NCAA’s NIL rules.

The temporary injunction filed by the Tennessee attorney general Jonathan Skrmetti has been in the works for weeks. It was filed after news broke of the NCAA investigating Tennessee’s NIL practices and the release of a stern letter from University of Tennessee Chancellor Donde Plowman to NCAA President Charlie Baker. The hearing is expected to last no more than 3-4 hours and is possibly just the start of things in the state’s case against the NCAA. 

That’s essentially what will happen after judgement is issued on the injunction. Here are some of the possible scenarios to follow the ruling on the injunction (in a simplistic form).

If the state of Tennessee wins the injunction: 

Because NIL rules are frozen, the NCAA’s investigation into Tennessee would be halted and there wouldn’t be a notice of allegations sent as the governing body accepts the loss and decides to essentially pull out of the anti-trust case meaning the case never goes to court. This is the path that the NCAA took in regards to the multiple year transfer ruling back in December in the state of West Virginia. 

If the state of Tennessee loses the injunction: 

1 — NIL rules as they currently are remain intact and the NCAA can continue their pursuit in their case against the University of Tennessee. It should be noted that if the University of Tennessee is given a notice of allegations, that will likely result in more lawsuits. Now, the federal judge on Tuesday could set a court date for the anti-trust case sooner rather than later which would likely mean that no further suits are filed until the anti-trust case is ruled on.

2 — NIL rules will remain intact as they currently are and the NCAA decides to go back and regroup on their strategy going forward if the expectation is that they will ultimately lose the anti-trust suit. Remember, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, who has formed an advisory group with the Big Ten, has publicly stated that the NCAA needs to focus on things from a bigger picture view and on things going forward rather than individual cases from the past. 

“I’m really one who thinks it’s important to look, given the environment we’re in, on big issues facing college sports, not cases,” Sankey said. “And my hope would be from a policy-making standpoint, at the national level, we could do that. We’ve got a lot ahead of us. We have a lot ahead of us in courts. A lot ahead of us in states and Congress and I would like not to be in this circumstance. But certainly, attorneys general have the right to bring this.

“It will be decided, these things are going to be argued out, and we’ll see the outcome and then how we move forward from this particular matter.”

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