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A federal judge in Tennessee on Friday granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting the NCAA from enforcing its own rules against pay-for-play in recruiting. Effective immediately, name, image and likeness collectives can negotiate agreements with recruits without fear of NCAA sanctions.
My first reaction to the news: this makes the entire “Blue Chips” plot obsolete.
If you’ve never seen that classic 1994 college basketball movie, here are the key details: Nick Nolte plays Pete Bell, a great coach (clearly inspired by Indiana’s Bob Knight) so desperate to get his troubled program back on track that he sells his soul and allows a reinforcement to go buy some recruits. Center Neon Boudeaux (played by Shaquille O’Neal) gets a new car. Butch McCrae’s mother (Penny Hardaway) gets a house. And a big tractor shows up on Ricky Roe’s (former Indiana great Matt Nover) farm.
But an investigative journalist finds out about the operation. Things don’t end well for Coach Bell.
GO DEEPER
Federal judge blocks NCAA from enforcing NIL rules
I mention this because in 1994, even a non-basketball fan walking into the local movie theater would be aware that paying high school recruits was a cardinal sin. This assumption was so ingrained in the public that an entire movie could be based on one NCAA violation without having to explain why it is a rule.
The film was released on February 18, 1994, nearly 30 years to the day that Judge Clifton L. Corker of the Eastern District of Tennessee told the NCAA to go away and let the Neon Boudeaux and Ricky Roes of the world get their cars and cash. .
The NCAA’s judicial defeats have been so fast and furious recently that you should really take a moment to stop and reflect on how fundamental some of these decisions are.
Until 2021, an athlete could lose his eligibility if someone bought him a hamburger. Today, thanks to a flurry of states passing laws forcing the NCAA to allow NIL payments, Caitlin Clark can appear in a State Farm commercial and no one bats an eyelid.
For decades, it was accepted that players would have to sit out a year if they transferred to a new school. In December, a West Virginia judge issued an injunction allowing athletes to immediately transfer and play as many times as they wanted.
And now, one of the founding principles of college athletics throughout its existence — not giving money to recruits — has gone up in smoke in the span of three weeks.
On January 30, Tennessee Chancellor Donde Plowman wrote a fiery letter to NCAA President Charlie Baker, criticizing the organization for attempting to sanction the school over the recruitment of five-star quarterback Nico Iamaleava for celebrating a lucrative NIL deal with Tennessee collective Spyre Sports. The argument itself (that the NCAA had not explicitly said that booster groups cannot participate in recruiting) was ridiculous. But it presented the perfect opportunity for someone to challenge the underlying rule.
Sure enough, the attorneys general of Tennessee and Virginia quickly filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the NCAA’s NIL restrictions violate antitrust law. Corker denied the plaintiffs’ temporary restraining order, but on Friday issued a preliminary injunction that has the same effect:
“Effective immediately, the NCAA… (is) restricted and prohibited from enforcing the NCAA Interim NIL Policy, the NCAA Bylaws, or any other law enforcement authority to the extent such authority prohibits students- Athletes negotiate compensation for NIL with any third party entity. including, among others, reinforcements or a group of reinforcements, until a complete and final decision is made on the merits of this action.”
The NCAA can still take the case to trial and hope to reinstate its previous policies, but in both its TRO and injunction decisions, Corker ruled that “(the) plaintiffs have demonstrated a likelihood of success in their Sherman Act claim “. It would be wise to save a few million dollars in billable hours for another losing defense.
Over the past three years, coaches and administrators have begun calling the NIL’s emerging impact on recruiting the “Wild West.” Another popular phrase: “That’s not how NIL was intended.” They and the segment of the public who feel the same will probably see Corker’s ruling as a nightmare.
I would choose another word: inevitable.
The NCAA had no choice in 2021 but to finally adopt NIL, because politicians known for very different opinions in numerous states had rallied around the cause. But he tried to do it with one foot in and one foot out. “WELL WELL. You are allowed to earn money. But we can still tell you who you are or who you cannot receive said money from.”
It was the next antitrust lawsuit waiting to happen, and the Tennessee case prompted someone to try it.
“In the context of the other pending antitrust cases against the NCAA … the importance of today’s ruling cannot be understated,” said attorney Tom Mars, who represents Spyre Sports. “With this being the first domino to fall, what happens in the other pending antitrust cases now seems almost inevitable. And the NCAA lawyers should know that.”
Meanwhile, even without legal intervention, the NCAA had long since lost the battle against the collectives. Whether their investigators finally got their hands on information about Tennessee, nearly every other major sports school now has operations that make their own “NIL deals” with current and potential recruits, while pretending it’s not pay-for-play.
At least for now, they can put an end to the charade.
“People will look at this (decision) as, ‘Wow, this is crazy,’ but this will actually help stabilize what’s happening out there,” said Walker Jones, executive director of Ole Miss’ Grove Collective. “Athletes can now gather all the information (about NIL opportunities) to make the most informed decision.
“It recognizes the realities of the market, rather than clinging to an archaic model.”
That archaic model is not completely dead yet. Corker’s ruling is a court order, not a final decision. And other ongoing legal cases addressing whether athletes should be considered employees or entitled to a share of television revenues are years away from being decided.
But even the most ardent defender of traditional NCAA amateurism would surely admit that the party is over. Baker himself has already proposed sweeping changes that would allow schools to directly compensate athletes.
However, somewhat sadly, we’re not likely to ever see a movie studio release a remake of “Blue Chips” starring, say, Zach Edey and Victor Wembanyama. No one would take seriously the presumption that the villain was the coach, and not the NCAA rules.
(Photo: C. Morgan Engel / NCAA Photos via Getty Images)