After loss in court, NCAA is pausing some NIL investigations

After another courtroom loss, the NCAA has told its enforcement staff to halt investigations into booster-backed collectives or other third parties making NIL deals with Division I athletes.

In a letter to member schools Friday, NCAA President Charlie Baker said the Division I Board of Directors directed enforcement staff “to pause and not begin investigations involving thirdparty participation in NIL-related activities.”

The move comes a week after a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit brought by the attorneys general of Tennessee and Virginia. The antitrust suit challenges NCAA rules against recruiting inducements, saying they inhibit athletes’ ability to cash in on their celebrity and fame.

The judge’s decision had prompted speculation about whether the NCAA would appeal as it fights to maintain its decadeslong amateurism model for athletes in the face of rapid change.

Baker noted that three specific policies involving NIL compensation remain in place and will be enforced, including prohibitions on schools directly playing athletes and any payment or compensation for specific athletic performances.

“There will be no penalty for conduct that occurs consistent with the injunction while the injunction is in place,” Baker wrote in the letter obtained by The Associated Press. “... In circumstances that are less than ideal, this at least gives the membership notice of the board’s direction related to enforcement.”

Baker and the NCAA have so far sought unsuccessfully a limited antitrust exemption from Congress to put rules in place that it says will preserve the amateurism model of college athletics.