As the University of Tennessee faces a fresh NCAA investigation into potential violations of athletics recruiting regulations, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti filed a lawsuit against the NCAA on Wednesday for its “NIL-recruiting ban,” adopting the same combative stance. The federal court for Tennessee’s Eastern District received the attorney general’s case. As an illustration of the “unlawful restriction” of the NCAA’s NIL rules, it cites the UT probe. The USA TODAY Network’s Knox News said that Skrmetti stated, “We sued to protect the rights of current and future Tennessee student-athletes from Memphis to Mountain City, from Union City to Unicoi County, from Covington to Cleveland, and everywhere in between.”
According to Skrmetti, the NCAA’s “shifting and opaque series of rules and guidelines” regarding athletes’ advantages for their name, likeness, and image constitute a violation of federal antitrust statutes. It sounds a lot like the words used by UT Chancellor Donde Plowman in an angry email sent on Monday to NCAA President Charlie Baker refuting claims that UT had violated NCAA regulations on NIL perks for players. “Vague and contradictory NCAA memos, emails and ‘guidance’ about name, image and likeness has created extraordinary chaos that student-athletes and institutions are struggling to navigate,” Plowman stated. “In short, the NCAA is failing.”
In a written statement, press secretary for the attorney general Tim Meads stated, “This lawsuit is focused on upholding the law and protecting all student-athletes in Tennessee, not any given institution.” Thus, there is no direct connection between the lawsuit and the NCAA’s investigation into UT. However, Skrmetti has contested the NCAA in a way that benefits UT twice in the last ten months. In both cases, athletes’ NIL rights were at stake. DODGE PLOWMAN SLAMS NCAA Tennessee chancellor: The NIL probe has caused the NCAA to be’morally wrong’ When the NCAA barred the UT football team from playoff play in response to the Jeremy Pruitt recruitment controversy last March, Skrmetti threatened to sue the organization. He contended that since the restriction forbids participants from making money through NIL, it would be in violation of state law.
