No ruling after hearing for injunction on NCAA NIL rules ends quickly

By TERESA M. WALKER and RALPH D. RUSSO
AP Sports Writers

A federal judge will rule “in short order” on a preliminary injunction requested by the states of Tennessee and Virginia to stop the NCAA from enforcing its rules governing name, image and likeness compensation for athletes.

U.S. District Judge Clifton Corker originally had a four-hour window blocked off Tuesday for the hearing in Greeneville, Tennessee. The hearing for the states’ request wound up lasting less than 90 minutes.

Corker denied the states’ request for a temporary restraining order last week, noting they failed to demonstrate recruits would be irreparably harmed if the temporary restraining order was not granted. But he also wrote the states were “likely to succeed on the merits of their claim” under the Sherman Act.

The chancellor of the University of Tennessee revealed Jan. 30 in a scathing letter to the NCAA president that the organization was alleging the school violated NIL rules after a meeting a day earlier. Donde Plowman called it “intellectually dishonest” for NCAA staff to pursue infractions cases as if students have no NIL rights.

The NIL collective supporting Tennessee athletes was among the first to emerge after the NCAA lifted its ban on athletes making money off their fame. The NCAA’s investigation has been met with aggressive pushback from both school leaders and the state’s attorney general, including a federal antitrust lawsuit that claims denying recruits the ability to cash in on NIL is restraint of trade.

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