Zakai Zeigler Denied Injunction for Fifth Year at Tennessee

Zakai Zeigler Denied Injunction for Fifth Year at Tennessee Privacy Manager Link 0

Published

12 minutes ago

on

June 12, 2025

By

Your Sports Nation

Zakai Zeigler Denied Injunction for Fifth Year at Tennessee

Link

0

Judge denies Zeigler’s request for preliminary injunction trying to play 5th season

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A federal judge on Thursday denied Tennessee point guard Zakai Zeigler’s request for a preliminary injunction allowing him to play a fifth season of Division I basketball in five years. U.S. District Judge Katherine A. Crytzer listened to arguments in a hearing June 6 in Knoxville and entered her denial Thursday morning. […]

Published

30 minutes ago

on

June 12, 2025

By

Your Sports Nation

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A federal judge on Thursday denied Tennessee point guard Zakai Zeigler’s request for a preliminary injunction allowing him to play a fifth season of Division I basketball in five years.

U.S. District Judge Katherine A. Crytzer listened to arguments in a hearing June 6 in Knoxville and entered her denial Thursday morning. She wrote that Zeigler failed to demonstrate he would likely succeed on his argument that the NCAA keeping him from playing a fifth season of Division I basketball is a violation under the Sherman Act.

“This Court is a court of law, not policy,” Crytzer wrote in her order denying the injunction. “What the NCAA should do as a policy matter to benefit student athletes is beyond the reach of the Sherman Act and TTPA and by extension, this Court.”

The two-time Southeastern Conference defensive player of the year asked for an injunction when he sued the NCAA on May 20 over its rules limiting him to four seasons in a five-year window as an unlawful restraint of trade under both federal and Tennessee laws.

His lawsuit argues he could earn between $2 million and as much as $4 million with another season. His attorneys made clear this is just a first step in this legal fight.

“We are disappointed the Court declined to grant a preliminary injunction on the basis that the NCAA does not directly control NIL compensation, just days after the House settlement confirmed they would do exactly that,” according to a statement from Litson PLLC and the Garza Law Firm.

“This ruling is just the first chapter of what we believe will ultimately be a successful challenge. We intend to press forward and are evaluating the best path ahead for Zakai.”

The judge wrote that the harms Zeigler argues he would suffer can be addressed with a future damages award.

She also noted the “fixed number of roster spots” for each Division I basketball team and that “an injunction would run the risk of harming currently enrolled players committed to a university and current high school seniors being recruited.”

The NCAA argued in its brief before the hearing that Zeigler’s injunction request should be denied because he is asking the court to make him the first athlete in history to play a fifth season in Division I “as a matter of right.”

During the hearing, the judge asked Zeigler’s attorneys to file a quick brief answering whether or not Zeigler is an “intercollegiate athlete” as defined under state law and what legal standard applies to Zeigler’s claim under the Tennessee Trade Practices Act.

Link

0

NIL

Runnin’ Utes forward becomes first Utah player to sign revenue share agreement

Keanu Dawes and the Utah athletics department have officially entered the new era of college sports. The 6-foot-9 forward has decided to stick around the Salt Lake City area after becoming the first Utah student-athlete to sign a revenue share agreement with the school, per a news release. News of Dawes’ arrangement follows a U.S. […]

Published

46 minutes ago

on

June 12, 2025

By

Your Sports Nation

Keanu Dawes and the Utah athletics department have officially entered the new era of college sports.

The 6-foot-9 forward has decided to stick around the Salt Lake City area after becoming the first Utah student-athlete to sign a revenue share agreement with the school, per a news release.

News of Dawes’ arrangement follows a U.S. district court judge’s decision to grant final approval of a landmark settlement that will allow colleges to directly pay their players through revenue sharing.

Utah athletics director Mark Harlan has already made his intentions of investing up to the maximum allowable in revenue share clear, as well as the creation of 23 new scholarships with a total value of about $1.2 million. Dawes is likely the first but certainly not the last Utes player, then, who will have an opportunity to grow their brand through this new avenue.

Starting July 1, institutions can begin sharing up to $20.5 million per academic year with their student-athletes. The House settlement will also see thousands of former players receive $2.8 billion in back pay and damages from the NCAA and its power conferences over the next decade. These new payments will be made in addition to scholarships and other benefits student-athletes already receive.

The long-awaited decision to cut down the NCAA’s 119-year-old amateurism model comes nearly three years after the Utah athletic department organized its Elevate U program, equipping student-athletes with the skills needed to capitalize on their NIL value. Utah student-athletes have earned more than $10 million collectively through charitable NIL activities and have dedicated nearly 7,500 hours to help several organizations achieve their missions and goals.

Dawes is coming off averaging 8.3 points and 6.4 rebounds while shooting a team-best 61.4% from the field as a sophomore in 2024-25.

MORE UTAH NEWS & ANALYSIS

Link

0

NIL

Presser Bullets: Ohio State Athletic Director Ross Bjork Breaks Down School’s Revenue Sharing Approach, Says Buckeye Fans Deserve More Marquee Night Games

The landscape of college sports continues evolving. With the House settlement approved, revenue sharing is getting underway and new NIL structures that allow for athletic departments to manage their own athletes’ NIL are in place. In a proactive move, Ohio State formed the Buckeye Sports Group in partnership with Learfield to do exactly that, while […]

Published

50 minutes ago

on

June 12, 2025

By

Your Sports Nation

The landscape of college sports continues evolving.

With the House settlement approved, revenue sharing is getting underway and new NIL structures that allow for athletic departments to manage their own athletes’ NIL are in place. In a proactive move, Ohio State formed the Buckeye Sports Group in partnership with Learfield to do exactly that, while connecting athletes with NIL opportunities.

Things are changing in Ohio State’s administration as well, with longtime communications director and football sports information director Jerry Emig announcing his March retirement on Thursday. Buckeye athletic director Ross Bjork then met with the media on Thursday to talk about all that’s changing.

Bjork addressed not only BSG and the approach to finding Emig’s replacement but also the formation of Ohio State’s new data-driven Center for Sports Intelligence and Strategy and the broader future of collegiate athletics.

In his opening statement, Bjork said that, after returning from the annual athletic directors’ convention, NACDA, he’s eager for the future of college athletics and says that academics will still play an integral role.
Deputy director of athletics Janine Oman is also retiring next June, and Bjork said she’ll be a difficult person to replace. Before she goes, she’ll help Ohio State transition to the new revenue-sharing era of college athletics. “She’s just been so thoughtful, so grateful. … I told her when she approached me, I said, ‘You can’t leave yet.'”
Bjork also raved about Emig’s contributions to Ohio State over the years. “We just want to thank Jerry for everything he’s done. … Congrats, Jerry, on your retirement.”
Bjork wants to strike a balance between furthering the athletic department’s NIL and revenue generation while also maintaining Ohio State traditions. “We’re a public trust of the state of Ohio. …. How do we nurture that, but how do we grow that? How do we capitalize on that? … There’s still potential. … How do we honor that tradition, but how do we be more innovative, more creative?”
With fantastic grades across all sports and the football team being the only D-1 football program with a perfect Academic Progress Rate. “This our best academic year ever. Period.”
Bjork said that Ohio State’s athletic department had its best fundraising year ever as well, more than $80 million raised.
Opening remarks on BSG: “This really brings everything under one umbrella. The Foundation, 1870, the people involved in those groups, they want to stay involved. … It’s really a marketing agency that goes out and arrange agreements between athletes and a business.”
While the Center of Sports Intelligence and Strategy isn’t a physical location, Bjork said the goal is to centralize resources within the athletic department for coaches to have “data, sports science” and “sports performance” resources, among other things.
Among the many tweaks to college athletics that Bjork and the national landscape is working to achieve, he wants to see the NCAA’s command of sports college change. “We need to redo NCAA governance.”
Bjork said after $2.5 million set aside for 91 new scholarships is counted against the cap for revenue sharing, the remaining $18 million will be shared among four sports: football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and women’s volleyball. “This is more opportunity for athletes than ever before, coming from within the program.” Bjork added that the $20.5 million cap will grow by 4% each year.
While all the changes with the House case are moving things in a positive direction, Bjork said action at the congressional level is still needed for college sports.
On varying opinions between the Big Ten and SEC on the future of the College Football Playoff: “We need to take a step back. We need to keep engaging with our colleagues. … Have we accomplished anything yet? No. … We’re confident in the commissioners.”
On his push to move Ohio State vs. Texas to Sunday night: “Really started the conversation back in the fall. … I think our program, our fans deserve some marquee night games. … Really, at the end of the day, there’s no flexibility in the contracts. FOX bought the noon window. … What we need is we need more flexibility. Can that happen anytime soon? I don’t know. … We understand why FOX went with Big Noon, we understand why we’re picked all the time, but we’re hoping (for) just, more flexibility.”
On the impact of the House settlement on NIL: “We have an obligation to follow Title IX in several buckets. … The revenue share and the NIL world is not subject to Title IX per se, but we do have an obligation to support our female athletes as much as we support our male athletes. … We think we’ll be in a better position to support our female athletes.”
Bjork said that working out NIL and revenue share with international athletes is still a work in progress with limitations from their visas.
On how Ohio State is going to get the NIL money it needs to support its football roster approved under new NIL regulations: “We have been in an environment the last four years, that there wasn’t necessarily a valid business purpose between a collective and an athlete. … It (now) has to meet a valid business purpose. … These numbers, you have to really ask, ‘When?’ When are you counting that? … People think there’s still going to be this chase. … Everyone is going to sign an agreement attesting to, ‘We are going to follow the rules.'”
Bjork said the revenue generation, interest and Big Ten attention on women’s volleyball made it the fourth sport that will receive revenue-sharing dollars.
While making student-athletes employees is still being considered, Bjork said there are “a lot of complications.” “That’ll be a continued conversation.”
On whether the new House regulations with the revenue-sharing cap levels the playing field and hurts Ohio State: “Everybody has the same number, that’s federally mandated by a judge. … Most programs are adding scholarships and they’re touching that 2.5. How they divide up that 18 million is up to them. … Ohio State football is a built-to-last, championship brand. That’s not going away. How we navigate it is going to be an evolution.”
On the projects the new Center for Sports Intelligence and Strategy: “Who should we schedule that will help you get into the postseason? … Analytics on how to spend scholarship, analytics on how to spend the NIL payments. … A lot of consistency across the board, how we do budgeting, how we do scheduling, how we do coaches’ contracts can all now sit in a ‘center.'”
More on BSG: “The company will pay the athlete, but they’ll basically help arrange that. And then there’s content that they’ll help with. … It’s just a way more proactive approach.”
On how the first year of the expanded Big Ten went: “I think from a scheduling, logistics (perspective), we managed it pretty well. … The sports, coming from West to East, they had some challenges. So I think, after the first year, probably not enough to make some radical changes, but after the second year we’ll have more data. … I think overall, it worked, but I think the wear and tear of going from West to East is an issue.”
Bjork said he wants to improve gameday experience for fans. “More night games, we already covered that. Fans, they want to modernize, they want to innovate. … I think we saw what happened in the Tennessee game. … We learned a lot from that. So, when we do music, how we play music, we have to do sponsored segments, but how do we do that? … We have a ramp that’s iconic that the band walks down, how can we use that during the game? … We are working on new boards, new LED ribbon boards. … The plan is really, really strong.”
On competing in less-prioritzed sports at Ohio State’s with programs that are funneling their focus into that sport: “People are worried about basketball-specific programs. That’s a reality that we’re gonna have to deal with. … We’re not gonna panic, no one’s just going to shut things down in year one, this gonna be a process.”
Ohio State’s revenue-sharing structure was built around ensuring all 36 varsity sports stay intact, too. “That was the starting point is, we will maintain 36 sports.”
Bjork said there’s an ongoing “comprehensive masterplan study” on how to improve Ohio stadium. “We’re always gonna do projects around the stadium, but the projects are going to be, ‘What provides return on investment?’ … This year we also provided 2,000 tickets that don’t require a donation and lowered the price.”

Link

0

NIL

Elite Texas college hires Olympian to lead NIL charge

Rice just took its first step toward sharing revenue with athletes. The approval of the House v. NCAA settlement last Friday put an end to the NCAA’s amateurism model, requiring that members of the Power 4 conferences share up to $20.5 million of their revenue with college athletes, while also establishing a clearinghouse for outside […]

Published

53 minutes ago

on

June 12, 2025

By

Your Sports Nation

Elite Texas college hires Olympian to lead NIL charge

Rice just took its first step toward sharing revenue with athletes. The approval of the House v. NCAA settlement last Friday put an end to the NCAA’s amateurism model, requiring that members of the Power 4 conferences share up to $20.5 million of their revenue with college athletes, while also establishing a clearinghouse for outside NIL deals.

But schools outside of the Power 4 have until June 30 to decide if they will opt into the terms of the settlement—that includes Rice. Since all members of the American Athletic Conference opted into the settlement, the conference announced a minimum spending requirement of at least $10 million over a three-year period on its athletes, including scholarships, Alston rewards and revenue.

To help with that, Rice has hired Tasha Moser as its Associate Athletic Director of Name, Image and Likeness and General Manager. Moser (formerly Schwikert), has served as the principal attorney at Munck, Wilson Mandala LLP in Houston, helping spearhead the firm’s “WeAreNIL,” practice, offering consulting services for collectives, athletes and brands and in the NIL space. It also posts fun educational videos to help guide athletes through contract language and enable them to lean into their strengths to maximize earning potential.

Moser also knows what it’s like to be an elite athlete. A former collegiate gymnast at UCLA, Moser was a member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic gymnastics team that earned a team bronze medal in the Sydney Olympics. She earned six NCAA championship medals during her time with the Bruins, winning gold in both the 2005 and 2008 all-around competition, as well as the uneven bars in 2008. She’s been inducted into both the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame and UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame.

“It was essential that we find a leader with both experience and passion to guide our NIL efforts—someone who genuinely understands and champions the student-athlete experience,” Rice Athletic Director Tommy McClelland said in a release. “Tasha’s journey—from excelling as a world-class gymnast to becoming a highly successful attorney with deep experience in the NIL space—perfectly positions her for this moment. She will play a leading role in building a new and essential unit within our athletics department.”

Moser has not only helped athletes receive the education and tools they need to succeed, but also testified before Congress on behalf of survivors of Larry Nassar’s abuse and serves on the USA Gymnastics Board of Directors.

In her new position with Rice, Moser will not only serve as the primary resource for the department in determining how it shares revenue with athletes, but also act as a liaison to third-party entities hoping to strike NIL deals with student athletes. She’ll also assist coaches with roster management.

Moser’s position is something schools across the nation have begun adding since 2021, when college athletes first received permission to earn money off their name, image and likeness. But it’s about to get more complicated for athletic departments once the House v. NCAA Settlement goes into effect on July 1. As a private institution, Rice’s athletic budget is not public record. However, Collegiate Consulting published a study in partnership with the institution this year finding that over the past three years, game day and event economic impact of Rice athletic events, camps and non-athletic events held in athletic venues amounted to $115.72 million, while the impact of athletic staff and student athletes was $97.6 million and direct revenue impact of $63.68 million.

“Rice has long been a national leader in academic excellence, and now it is leading the way in NIL innovation,” Moser said in a release. “I am thrilled to help support and elevate our remarkable student-athletes, both on the field and in the classroom, and to build on the incredible momentum that Tommy and [Eric George, Assistant VP & Deputy Athletic Director of Rice Athletics] have already established. There’s never been a more exciting time to be an Owl!”

0

NIL

House v. NCAA May Be Settled, but Congress Is Not

In the first Congressional hearing since the House v. NCAA settlement was approved, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce convened to debate a Republican-led proposal aimed at granting broad but ill-defined “liability protections” to the NCAA, conferences and schools in an effort to bring greater stability to college athletics. The hearing, titled “Winning Off […]

Published

1 hour ago

on

June 12, 2025

By

Your Sports Nation

House v. NCAA May Be Settled, but Congress Is Not

In the first Congressional hearing since the House v. NCAA settlement was approved, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce convened to debate a Republican-led proposal aimed at granting broad but ill-defined “liability protections” to the NCAA, conferences and schools in an effort to bring greater stability to college athletics.

The hearing, titled “Winning Off the Field,” centered on draft legislation introduced this week by committee chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) and Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.). The legislation is called the SCORE Act, short for “Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements.”

“The timing could not be more appropriate for legislative action, in my opinion,” said Bilirakis, chairman of the subcommittee on commerce, manufacturing and trade. “This is not just another proposal. It’s a targeted solution designed to bring predictability, fairness and long-term balance to a system that has rapidly evolved without structure.”

He continued: “We are here to put forward a framework that strengthens college sports—ensuring athletes can succeed on the field without losing sight of their future off of it.”

While the House settlement may represent a turning point in the political debate over college sports, Thursday’s hearing suggested it has done little to foster bipartisan consensus in Congress, where Republicans currently hold a narrow eight-seat majority in the House.

Committee Republicans urged legislative action to restore order to what they described as a chaotic college sports landscape, shaped by conflicting state laws and constant legal challenges from athletes. In contrast, Democrats argued that proposals like the SCORE Act primarily serve to protect powerful institutions at the expense of college athletes’ rights and freedoms.

The hearing also hinted at the potential for increased polarization, particularly with former President Donald Trump now expressing interest in the issue—an involvement that could inject both political energy and deeper partisan rancor.

Rep. Frank Pallone, a Democrat from New Jersey, used his opening remarks to criticize the Trump administration’s recent efforts to cut university research funding and block Harvard from enrolling international students. He argued that the committee should prioritize addressing those issues before turning its attention to intercollegiate athletics.

“The bottom line is there is not going to be any college sports if there are no colleges, or if colleges have no money,” Pallone said. “That’s where we’re headed with the Trump administration.”

As initially floated, the SCORE Act would codify the central terms of the House v. NCAA settlement into federal law, thereby protecting them from future legal challenges. It would also explicitly declare that college athletes are not employees of their institutions—effectively shutting down the Johnson v. NCAA case and blocking similar antitrust litigation—while granting the NCAA and conferences sweeping authority to regulate transfer eligibility and compensation standards. Finally, it proposes an additional, undefined “limitation on liability,” designed to insulate the NCAA and other collegiate sports bodies from potential lawsuits.

Committee Democrats argued that the bill represented a significant setback in the progress made toward securing rights for college athletes.

“I’m deeply disappointed,” said Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.), a former Division I volleyball player who has proposed several college sports reform bills in recent years. “For the second year in a row, Republicans on the committee are advancing a partisan college sports bill that protects the power brokers of college athletics at the expense of the athletes themselves.”

As a matter of process, Trahan argued that the draft legislation was “crafted behind closed doors,” with Democrats first learning of it through leaked copies shared with lobbyists and reporters late last week.

She added that the House v. NCAA settlement was not evidence of a broken system, as members across the aisle suggested, but rather a sign of the judicial system functioning as intended.

“We have a system where the NCAA conferences and their member institutions set rules,” Trahan said. “Athletes can challenge them, and if the rules are unfair, courts can intervene, or a deal can be struck. This bill rewrites that process to guarantee that people in power always win, and the athletes who fuel this multibillion-dollar industry always lose.”

Rep. Yvette D. Clarke (D-N.Y.) echoed Trahan’s view, suggesting that the current turmoil in college sports reflects not just dysfunction, but also progress.

“To call this the Wild West, or the NIL era is ridiculous,” Clarke said. “Let’s call this what it really is, the era of athlete empowerment. We should embrace that, not seek to rein it in just because the job of the college athletic director got a little harder.”

To bolster their resistance, Democratic committee members relied on a familiar face, Ramogi Huma, the executive director of the National College Players Association, who has testified before this same Congressional committee numerous times over the last two decades.

“Much of this bill chases the myth of creating a level playing field among college athletic programs,” Huma, a critical force behind California passing the nation’s first NIL law in 2019, said. “The truth is that there’s never been a level playing field.”

Huma reiterated his previous criticism of the House settlement, which caps schools’ revenue-sharing with college athletes’ far below that of professional sports leagues and bans payments to players from so-called “associated entities” like boosters and NIL collectives. He argued that this could result in athletes losing up to $2 billion in potential NIL earnings, while allowing schools to effectively “re-monopolize” that revenue.

Testifying in support of the draft legislation, William King, associate commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, argued that the House settlement—along with the newly formed College Sports Commission intended to oversee it—could only succeed if Congress provided it with relief from ongoing litigation.

“We do not seek broad antitrust exemption or blanket antitrust immunity,” King said “What we seek is more limited than that, protection from lawsuits that challenge conduct and regulations that are consistent with or codified in a federal law passed by Congress.”

Ashley Cozad, a former University of North Florida swimmer and past chair of the Division I NCAA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, also spoke in support of the legislation.

“While it is evident that NIL has had positive impacts on student-athletes, the lack of transparency in the lack of uniform regulation, due to different state laws, has created an unstable environment,” said Cozad, who now works as a high school English teacher in Jacksonville, Fla. “The hodgepodge of state laws remains a nightmare for student-athletes who are often unsure of what rules apply.”

Cozad also championed the SCORE Act’s provision prohibiting college athletes from being classified as employees, arguing that such a system would ultimately harm the opportunities of athletes in Olympic sports. In contrast, Huma argued that college athletes should be afforded the same rights under federal labor laws as other workers.

For the most part, Democrats supported Huma’s stance.

“The schools want to put something together that looks like the past,” Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas), a former high school sports reporter, said. “And let me tell you, the past was not perfect, the past was jacked up, and these kids were being exploited … I don’t want to take that away from future student-athletes.”

While Rep. Russell Fry, a Republican from South Carolina, generally supported the SCORE Act, he raised concerns about potential overreach by the federal government.

“While Congress, I think, has an authority [to act] here, I also worry a little bit too about how much that authority goes,” Fry said. “You don’t want to go too far and create more problems than you’ve solved.”

0

YSN

Oregon State, TCU, Underdog USC In Corvallis Regional

You may like

Leave a Reply Cancel reply