Kaleigh McCormick
On December 18, 2024, Chief District Judge William L. Campbell, Jr. (“Judge Campbell”) of the United States District Court in the Middle District of Tennessee granted Vanderbilt University quarterback Diego Pavia (“Pavia”) an injunction that allows him to play football for an additional season during his lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”).[1] The injunction prohibits the NCAA from enforcing bylaw 12.02.6 against Pavia, which would require that Pavia’s time competing at a junior college count towards, and therefore exhaust, his four seasons in five years eligibility.[2]
Pavia began his college football career in 2020 at New Mexico Military Institute, a non-NCAA, junior college, where he played for two seasons.[3] He then played another two seasons for the New Mexico State Aggies, a member of NCAA’s Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (“Division I FBS”).[4] He now plays for the Vanderbilt University Commodores, another member of Division I FBS.[5] If the NCAA enforced bylaw 12.02.6, and thus counted Pavia’s two seasons at New Mexico Military Institute towards his four seasons of eligibility, it would mean Pavia could no longer compete in the upcoming season.[6] However, because of the injunction, Pavia will be allowed to play for Vanderbilt.[7]
This injunction is one crucial victory in Pavia’s larger lawsuit against the NCAA.[8] In November 2024, Pavia sued the NCAA, relying on the 2021 Supreme Court case NCAA v. Alston to argue that bylaw 12.02.6 violates antitrust law by illegally limiting his ability to profit from his “name, image, and likeness.”[9] Pavia alleges that the NCAA counting his time in junior college (i.e. a school not governed by the NCAA) towards his NCAA eligibility “stifle[s] the competition in the labor market for NCAA Division I football players, harm[s] college athletes and degrad[es] the quality of Division I football consumed by the public.”[10]
In order to grant this preliminary injunction, Judge Campbell considered “(1) [Pavia’s] likelihood of success on the merits; (2) whether [Pavia] is likely to suffer irreparable harm absent the injunction; (3) the balance of equities; and (4) the impact of the injunction on the public interest.”[11] In granting the injunction, Judge Campbell found that all four of these factors weigh in favor of precluding the NCAA from enforcing this bylaw.[12]
While the injunction technically only applies to Pavia, it is already impacting other college transfers. Although the NCAA has filed a notice of appeal, they also have a longstanding principle that member institutions and athletes need to be treated equally, and seem acutely aware that they had to immediately rectify any discrepancies among their treatment of players.[13] On December 23, 2024, just five days after the injunction, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors approved a general waiver permitting any player “who [(1)] previously ‘competed at a non-NCAA school for one or more years’ and [(2)] otherwise would have exhausted their NCAA eligibility following the 2024-25 season” an additional year of play.[14]
This preliminary injunction is not the end of Pavia’s lawsuit. Nevertheless, as mentioned, one element that Pavia had to show was that he was likely to succeed on the merits of his case if this case were to go to trial (in front of Judge Campbell).[15] Indeed, Joe Sabin, a lawyer and professor at Southeastern Louisiana University, argues that the NCAA's other options (a (likely losing) trial, an emergency appeal, or simply allowing this injunction to stand and hoping no other athletes file the same lawsuit) are all unlikely to result in favorable outcomes for the NCAA.[16] Therefore, Sabin argues, the NCAA’s only viable option is to change their eligibility bylaw, which will be a huge blow to the NCAA’s control over players and their eligibility.[17]
[1]Preliminary Injunction Order, Pavia v. Nat'l Collegiate Athletic Ass'n (M.D. Tenn. Dec 18, 2024) (No. 24-cv-01336); Michael McCann, Pavia Injunction Could Lead to Seven-Year College Careers, Sportico (Dec. 22, 2024), https://www.sportico.com/law/analysis/2024/pavia-injunction-seven-year-college-careers-1234821486/, [https://perma.cc/WU9K-7R2B], [/web/20250204150720/https://www.sportico.com/law/analysis/2024/pavia-injunction-seven-year-college-careers-1234821486/].
[2]Memorandum at 5, Pavia v. Nat'l Collegiate Athletic Ass'n (M.D. Tenn. Dec 18, 2024) (No. 24-cv-01336); Dan Murphy, Vanderbilt's Diego Pavia Granted Injunction Allowing for Added Eligibility, ESPN (Dec. 18, 2024), https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/43048561/vanderbilt-qb-diego-pavia-granted-injunction-allowing-extra-year-eligibility, [https://perma.cc/G7S2-ZRL8], [/web/20250221141833/https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/43048561/vanderbilt-qb-diego-pavia-granted-injunction-allowing-extra-year-eligibility].
[3]Football Institutions, NCAA Directory, https://web3.ncaa.org/directory/memberList?type=12&sportCode=MFB, [https://perma.cc/84KY-QMDF], [/web/20250221145356/https://web3.ncaa.org/directory/memberList?type=12&sportCode=MFB]; Diego Pavia, New Mexico Military Institute Athletics, https://www.nmmiathletics.com/sports/fball/2021-22/bios/DiegoPavia?view=career&pos=qb, [https://perma.cc/CX7Q-8QRN], [/web/20250204150815/https://www.nmmiathletics.com/sports/fball/2021-22/bios/DiegoPavia?view=career&pos=qb].
[4]Eli Lederman, NCAA Grants Waiver to Ex-JUCO Players While Appealing Pavia Ruling, ESPN (Dec. 23, 2024), https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/43131557/ncaa-division-board-grants-waiver-former-juco-players-appealing-diego-pavia-injunction, [https://perma.cc/4878-7YQ4] [/web/20250221142029/https://platform.twitter.com/widgets/widget_iframe.2f70fb173b9000da126c79afe2098f02.html?origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.espn.com]; Football Institutions, NCAA Directory, https://web3.ncaa.org/directory/memberList?type=12&sportCode=MFB, [https://perma.cc/84KY-QMDF], [/web/20250221145356/https://web3.ncaa.org/directory/memberList?type=12&sportCode=MFB].
[5]Eli Lederman, NCAA Grants Waiver to Ex-JUCO Players While Appealing Pavia Ruling, ESPN (Dec. 23, 2024), https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/43131557/ncaa-division-board-grants-waiver-former-juco-players-appealing-diego-pavia-injunction, [https://perma.cc/4878-7YQ4] [/web/20250221142029/https://platform.twitter.com/widgets/widget_iframe.2f70fb173b9000da126c79afe2098f02.html?origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.espn.com]; Football Institutions, NCAA Directory, https://web3.ncaa.org/directory/memberList?type=12&sportCode=MFB, [https://perma.cc/84KY-QMDF], [/web/20250221145356/https://web3.ncaa.org/directory/memberList?type=12&sportCode=MFB].
[6]Dan Murphy, Vanderbilt's Diego Pavia Granted Injunction Allowing for Added Eligibility, ESPN (Dec. 18, 2024), https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/43048561/vanderbilt-qb-diego-pavia-granted-injunction-allowing-extra-year-eligibility [https://perma.cc/G7S2-ZRL8], [/web/20250221141833/https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/43048561/vanderbilt-qb-diego-pavia-granted-injunction-allowing-extra-year-eligibility].
[7]Eli Lederman, NCAA Grants Waiver to Ex-JUCO Players While Appealing Pavia Ruling, ESPN (Dec. 23, 2024), https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/43131557/ncaa-division-board-grants-waiver-former-juco-players-appealing-diego-pavia-injunction, [https://perma.cc/4878-7YQ4].
[8]Complaint, Pavia v. Nat'l Collegiate Athletic Ass'n (M.D. Tenn. Nov 8, 2024) (No. 24-cv-01336).
[9]Dan Murphy, Vanderbilt's Diego Pavia Granted Injunction Allowing for Added Eligibility, ESPN (Dec. 18, 2024), https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/43048561/vanderbilt-qb-diego-pavia-granted-injunction-allowing-extra-year-eligibility, [https://perma.cc/G7S2-ZRL8], [/web/20250221141833/https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/43048561/vanderbilt-qb-diego-pavia-granted-injunction-allowing-extra-year-eligibility]; Nat'l Collegiate Athletic Ass'n v. Alston, 594 U.S. 69, 82 (2021). In Alston, the Supreme Court of the United States found that prohibitions on athletes receiving non-monetary compensation for academic purposes (i.e. electronics, internship opportunities) violated the Sherman Act because its restrictions “‘produce[d] significant anticompetitive effects in the relevant market.’”
[10]Complaint at 3, Pavia v. Nat'l Collegiate Athletic Ass'n (M.D. Tenn. Nov 8, 2024) (No. 24-cv-01336).
[11]Memorandum at 8, Pavia v. Nat'l Collegiate Athletic Ass'n (M.D. Tenn. Dec 18, 2024) (No. 24-cv-01336).
[12]Memorandum at 15, 23–24, Pavia v. Nat'l Collegiate Athletic Ass'n (M.D. Ten.. Dec. 18, 2024) (No. 24-cv-01336).
[13]Michael McCann, A Legal Playbook for the NCAA to Challenge State NIL, Sportico (July 24, 2023), https://www.sportico.com/law/analysis/2023/legal-how-ncaa-challenge-state-nil-1234731783/, [https://perma.cc/CW4F-CMET], [/web/20250204151031/https://www.sportico.com/law/analysis/2023/legal-how-ncaa-challenge-state-nil-1234731783].
[14]Eli Lederman, NCAA Grants Waiver to Ex-JUCO Players While Appealing Pavia Ruling, ESPN (Dec. 23, 2024), https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/43131557/ncaa-division-board-grants-waiver-former-juco-players-appealing-diego-pavia-injunction, [https://perma.cc/4878-7YQ4].
[15]Memorandum at 15, 23–24, Pavia v. Nat'l Collegiate Athletic Ass'n (M.D. Ten.. Dec. 18, 2024) (No. 24-cv-01336); Joe Sabin, What Pavia’s Win Means (And Doesn’t) For The NCAA And JUCO Transfers, Forbes (Dec. 19, 2024), https://www.forbes.com/sites/joesabin/2024/12/19/what-pavias-win-means-and-doesnt-for-the-ncaa-and-juco-transfers/, [https://perma.cc/3WB6-TS8R], [/web/20250204151013/https://www.forbes.com/sites/joesabin/2024/12/19/what-pavias-win-means-and-doesnt-for-the-ncaa-and-juco-transfers/].
[16]Joe Sabin, What Pavia’s Win Means (And Doesn’t) For The NCAA And JUCO Transfers, Forbes (Dec. 19, 2024), https://www.forbes.com/sites/joesabin/2024/12/19/what-pavias-win-means-and-doesnt-for-the-ncaa-and-juco-transfers/, [https://perma.cc/3WB6-TS8R], [/web/20250204151013/https://www.forbes.com/sites/joesabin/2024/12/19/what-pavias-win-means-and-doesnt-for-the-ncaa-and-juco-transfers/].
[17]Id.