New Challenge To NCAA NIL Rules Is ‘Engineered’ On Firm Legal Ground

This week, the states of Tennessee and Virginia move forward with their pursuit of a preliminary injunction to stop the NCAA from enforcing rules that prevent colleges and their affiliated NIL collectives from paying to recruit unsigned college athletes.

The NCAA, meanwhile, seeks to keep in place its recently implemented rules to prevent colleges and their affiliated collectives from making offers to procure the name, image, and likeness rights of athletes until after the athletes sign a letter-of-intent with a specific school.

The NCAA’s rule limiting when school-affiliated NIL collectives may offer money to prospective athletes is relatively new. Before June 30, 2021 the NCAA had attempted to prohibit most forms of payment to college athletes in the entirety. However, after numerous states passed laws to prevent the NCAA from maintaining these restraints, the NCAA briefly went through a period with no rules at all pertaining to when colleges may compensate their athletes.