NCAA lawsuits overview:
- Who: A group of at least 100 current and former college athletes are suing the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
- Why: The athletes claim the NCAA continues to restrict their ability to monetize their name, image, and likeness rights despite an interim policy that loosened the rules.
- Where: The NCAA lawsuits were filed in federal courts in California and Kentucky.
A group of at least 100 current and former college athletes filed lawsuits against the National Collegiate Athletic Association over name, image and likeness compensation restrictions.
The complaints, which the athletes filed in Kentucky and California federal courts, come as critics continue to raise concerns about a proposed $2.78 billion class action settlement aimed at addressing similar issues.
The athletes argue the NCAA continues to restrict athletes’ ability to monetize their NIL rights, despite a temporary policy that eased those rules.
The NIL lawsuits also claim the NCAA still prohibits the direct compensation of student athletes for their labor.
NCAA says new lawsuits don’t present obstacle to settlement
The athletes’ filing in California explicitly states they opt out of the settlement, which is still pending approval, stemming from a class action former college swimmer Grant House filed.
The athletes in the Kentucky case, meanwhile, did not explicitly include an opt-out declaration in their filing, but they filed their suit before the deadline for class members to back the settlement or pursue their own claims against the NCAA.
In a statement, the NCAA says the plaintiffs behind the new NIL lawsuits represent “a very small minority” of athletes who could have participated in the settlement process, Law360 reports.
Most of the athletes behind the NIL lawsuits played college sports prior to the NCAA relaxing its rules in 2022, which allowed athletes to profit off their own likenesses through merchandising and advertising deals, and seek to recoup their alleged losses.
Last year, a California federal judge preliminarily approved a revised version of the settlement between the NCAA and around 184,000 former student athletes.
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The Kentucky plaintiffs are represented by Robert R. Sparks of Strauss Troy Co. LPA and R. Christian Macke.
The California plaintiffs are represented by John Arthur Eaves Jr., Christopher Brady Eaves and Sterling Overton Eaves of Eaves Law Firm LLC and Thomas F. DellaFera Jr. of Miller DellaFera PLC.
The NCAA lawsuits are Allen et al. v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, Case No. 2:25-cv-00014, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky and Hill et al. v. National Collegiate Athletic Association et al., Case No. 4:25-cv-01011, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
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