Tennessee attorney general sues NCAA over ‘NIL-recruiting ban’ as UT fights back

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti filed suit against the NCAA on Wednesday over its "NIL-recruiting ban," taking the same aggressive posture of the University of Tennessee as it confronts a new NCAA investigation into whether it violated athletics recruiting rules.

The attorney general's lawsuit was filed in the Eastern District of Tennessee federal court. It mentions the UT investigation as an example of the "unlawful restriction" of the NCAA's NIL policy.

Skrmetti told Knox News, part of the USA TODAY Network, that "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."

Skrmetti argues the NCAA violates federal antitrust laws by putting a "shifting and opaque series of rules and guidelines" around athletes’ benefits for their name, image and likeness.

It’s similar to the language UT Chancellor Donde Plowman used in a scathing email to NCAA President Charlie Baker on Monday denying that UT broke NCAA rules involving NIL benefits for athletes.

"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 said. "In short, the NCAA is failing."

Tim Meads, the attorney general's press secretary, said in a written statement "this lawsuit is focused on upholding the law and protecting all student-athletes in Tennessee, not any given institution."

So the lawsuit and the NCAA investigation into UT are not directly connected. But this is the second time in the past 10 months that Skrmetti has challenged the NCAA in a way that supports UT. And both instances involved athletes’ NIL rights.

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Last March, Skrmetti threatened legal action against the NCAA if it banned the UT football team from postseason play as punishment in the Jeremy Pruitt recruiting scandal. He argued that such a ban would violate state law because it prohibits players’ ability to earn money through NIL.

UT avoided a postseason ban. And now Skrmetti’s fight against the NCAA is closely aligned with UT once again.

Why Tennessee attorney general is suing NCAA

Skrmetti, along with Virginia, filed the lawsuit in hopes of loosening the NCAA’s grip on NIL rules.

It seeks to deregulate the process by which recruits can negotiate NIL contracts and communicate with schools directly about NIL opportunities before enrolling or signing a letter of intent.

The NCAA has relaxed some restrictions in recent months. But a patchwork of state laws still dictate how recruits can or cannot negotiate NIL deals. Those state laws change frequently, and the NCAA policies are murky and ever-evolving.

"Student-athletes are entitled to rules that are clear and rules that are fair," Skrmetti said in a statement to Knox News. "… The NCAA’s restraints on prospective students’ ability to meaningfully negotiate NIL deals violate federal antitrust law. Only Congress has the power to impose such limits."

While the NCAA is loosening some NIL rules, it’s trying to clamp down with others.

On Jan. 10, the NCAA Division I Council proposed prohibiting an NIL collective from negotiating, communicating or providing benefits to recruits or transfers until after they had signed a letter of intent, enrolled at the school or practiced with the team.

The proposal could be adopted as early as April.

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The NCAA is investigating allegations that UT broke rules involving NIL benefits for athletes in multiple sports, including football.

One allegation the NCAA is exploring is whether quarterback Nico Iamaleava's NIL deal was part of a recruiting inducement, which would violate NCAA rules. Spyre Sports Group, an NIL collective representing UT athletes, denied that allegation in a statement from attorney Tom Mars.

UT could face multiple level 1 and level 2 violations, a source with direct knowledge of the situation told Knox News. Plowman also referenced the possibility that UT could face a charge of lack of institutional control, the most serious charge against a university.

UT confirmed the existence of the investigation, but it has not received a notice of allegations.

The NCAA declined comment in a statement to Knox News. But it’s become an easy target for Tennessee politicians.

Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton showed his support for UT and Plowman on X, formerly known as Twitter.

"The NCAA is targeting certain programs. NCAA opened both doors to NIL in 2021 (when it adopted an NIL policy)," Sexton posted. "NCAA, fix your failures. Don’t punish the institutions and student athletes. #istandwithdonde #govols"

How Skrmetti threatened NCAA once before

Skrmetti could be an ally for UT, as he was in its previous NCAA investigation.

Last March, he took the NCAA to task in a letter obtained by Knox News through an open records request.

Skrmetti cited a Tennessee law, which had been amended during that NCAA investigation to match UT’s needs. And it was leveraged by UT to produce a favorable verdict from the NCAA in the Pruitt recruiting scandal.

"Tennessee law prohibits the NCAA from imposing such a sanction (as a postseason ban), and I will not hesitate to vindicate the rights of UT students to enjoy the full measure of their intercollegiate athletic opportunities," Skrmetti wrote in the letter on March 31.

"NCAA rules cannot supersede Tennessee law."

Skrmetti’s letter to the NCAA over the postseason ban was sent after the deadline to be included in UT’s NCAA infractions hearing involving Pruitt last April.

But UT petitioned to get the letter entered into the case record. and the NCAA granted the request. The NCAA took Skrmetti’s threat seriously enough that it thought the infractions committee should know about it before issuing a verdict.

The NCAA did not give UT a bowl ban, so that legal battle never took place.

But Skrmetti has remained a harsh critic of NCAA legislation.

Skrmetti: NCAA has ‘unchecked concentration of power’

In December, Skrmetti led a bipartisan coalition of 18 attorneys general in urging Congress to pass the NCAA Accountability Act.

If signed into law, it would allow the U.S. Department of Justice to take legal action against the NCAA if the association abused its “unchecked concentration of power,” Skrmetti wrote in a letter to support the bill.

"The NCAA exercises tremendous power over the opportunities available to college athletes in our states, and there is currently no effective check on the organization’s conduct if it behaves in an arbitrary or inconsistent manner," Skrmetti wrote.

Skrmetti, who was sworn in as attorney general in September 2022, doesn’t have clear connections to UT athletics.

The 47-year-old Skrmetti is originally from Connecticut and now lives in Franklin. He earned degrees from George Washington University, University of Oxford and Harvard Law School.

Skrmetti also was an assistant U.S. attorney in Memphis, general counsel for Gov. Bill Lee and chief deputy to the previous attorney general.

But his political philosophy appears to fit UT’s defense against the NCAA.

Skrmetti, a conservative, has built a reputation for fighting against the federal government. It made him a popular pick among Republican lawmakers in Tennessee, the only state where the attorney general is appointed by the Supreme Court.

Substitute the NCAA for the federal government, and these battles fit the pattern of Skrmetti’s past positions.

Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee attorney general sues NCAA over ‘NIL-recruiting ban’