In an article published as part of the LEAD1 Association’s May-June 2023 Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) Institutional Report, Nelson Mullins partner Dan Cohen and senior associate Priscilla Szeto delve into issues currently being litigated in the NIL class action lawsuit pending before the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California, also known as the House lawsuit. 

“The House lawsuit seeks to obliterate any NCAA regulation of NIL activities and to hold the NCAA financially accountable — to the tune of billions of dollars — for prohibiting student-athletes from profiting from their NIL in the past.” The lawsuit directly affects NCAA schools and athletic conferences which, the complaint alleges, are “unnamed co-conspirators” that “prohibit[ed] NIL compensation and thus agreed to impose the restraint on trade” in violation of federal antitrust law. 

Cohen and Szeto discussed the current status of the litigation, its impact on NCAA institutions and what might happen next. 

Click here to read the full article from Cohen and Szeto. 

LEAD1 is the nation’s Division I Athletic Directors Association, read the full report here.

For more information on the Nelson Mullins Collegiate Athletics Team’s guidance on NIL topics, please contact industry leader Dan Cohen. With over 20 years of experience in college athletics, Cohen represents university athletics departments in 30 states plus Washington, D.C., including top research institutions in 21 states.