The Tennessee Volunteers have filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA over NIL restrictions.
Tennessee is being investigated for multiple alleged name, image and likeness violations. The initial report by Sports Illustrated claimed it was a major investigation.
According to a report by ESPN, the case revolves around activity related to the Spyre Sports Group, which is Tennessee's primary NIL collective. The case is fundamentally tied to football, according to the reports.
Now, after the investigation began into Tennessee, the state filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA.
The state of Tennessee's suit alleges that the NCAA has violated antitrust laws by denying athletes their ability to earn full compensation for their names, images and likenesses. The suit seeks a temporary injunction that could suspend the NCAA's NIL rules and limitations.
If the NCAA pushes back against the lawsuit, it could go to trial, which could ultimately take years to complete.
According to CBS Sports, this is at least the third antitrust lawsuit filed against the NCAA since the beginning of November.
Tennessee Volunteers chancellor fires back at NCAA
Following the report that Tennessee was being investigated by the NCAA, the chancellor, Donde Plowman, wrote a letter scathing the NCAA.
"The NCAA's allegations are factually untrue and procedurally flawed," Plowman wrote in the letter. "Moreover, it is intellectually dishonest for the NCAA enforcement staff to pursue infractions cases as if student-athletes have no NIL rights and as if institutions all have been functioning post-Alston with a clear and unchanging set of rules and willfully violating them.
Plowman added:
"It is inconceivable that our institution's leadership would be cited as an example of exemplary leadership in July 2023, then as a cautionary example of a lack of institutional control only six months later... The University of Tennessee complied with the interim NIL policy and guidance as it was put into place by the NCAA. No member institution could follow future guidance prior to it being given, let alone interpreted."
This is the only beginning of the lawsuit between Tennessee and the NCAA, and the NCAA has yet to respond to the Vols antitrust lawsuit.
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