KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – The lawsuit between Tennessee point guard Zakai Zeigler and the NCAA has entered a phase of back-and-forth, showcasing the changing world of college athletics as more money becomes available to players. Zeigler’s latest filing, made in answer to the NCAA’s response to his original suit, came Tuesday.
It’s a transition that began with the full implementation of Name, Image and Likeness deals. NIL programs haven’t just raised money for student athletes, they’ve raised questions about what kind of commercial rights those players have.
Zeigler specifically is suing over play eligibility. He, like all NCAA athletes, has spent his college career under the umbrella of the “four-seasons rule,” which limits a student to four Division One seasons, even if they’re in school for more than four years.
In Zeigler’s eyes, the rule is subject to federal antitrust laws. His argument claims that the NCAA has no right to limit a player’s eligibility, since that illegally regulates the market of college athletes.
In legal terms, Zeigler‘s latest response said “The rule operates as a horizontal restraint among competing buyers of labor that artificially suppresses compensation by systematically excluding the most experienced and valuable participants from the market.”
In more basic terms, the suit is saying that by booting the most experienced players from play, the NCAA is limiting the “products” — NIL opportunities — available to both players and businesses who want to enter into NIL agreements with them. That fact puts the rule under the purview of antitrust laws.
For the NCAA, the argument is completely different. The people in charge of college sports don’t see student athletics as a business, but rather an extracurricular while earning a degree. It’s a more traditional view, common before NIL started taking off after the Supreme Court’s 2021 decision in NCAA v. Alston.
“College athletics is a means to a better end for student-athletes — not the end itself,” the NCAA’s response, filed Monday, said.
The back-and-forth between Zeigler and the NCAA is an appropriate metaphor for college athletics today. It showcases college sports’ slip into a professional sports landscape, where playing for UT means more than just being a Volunteer, it means earning a living at the same time.
Court records show a motion hearing is scheduled for Friday.
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