ST PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison joined the Department of Justice, two more states and the District of Columbia in a lawsuit against the NCAA's transfer eligibility rule.
"Banning athletes from competing for a year after they transfer schools a second time is arbitrary, unjust, and in my opinion, illegal," Ellison said in a release. "I am proud to be standing up for student athletes and fighting the NCAA’s senseless restriction on their ability to compete.”
Ellison is one of 11 attorneys general in the lawsuit, including Colorado, Illinois, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.
“There is strength in numbers,” said Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who along with six other states, filed the original suit on Dec. 7 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia.
An email from the NCAA to The Associated Press on Friday referred to its last public statement on Dec. 15 and said the organization would have no additional comment at this time.
The states are challenging the NCAA rule that athletes who want to make a second transfer in Division I must wait a year before competing in their sport.
The lawsuit, which alleges the NCAA transfer rules waiver process violates federal antitrust law, could have a profound impact on college sports if successful. In court documents, the NCAA said the plaintiffs “seek to remake collegiate athletics and replace it with a system of perpetual and unchecked free agency.”
On Dec. 13, U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey in West Virginia issued a temporary restraining order against the NCAA that has since been extended to a preliminary injunction that prohibits the NCAA from enforcing the rule and allowing college athletes to compete without fear of retaliation from the association.
The preliminary injunction will run through at least the end of the 2023-24 academic year, ensuring that winter and spring athletes can complete their seasons free from the rule’s restrictions.
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