UCLA Football: How a Federal Judge's Injunction Against NCAA Effects UCLA's NIL Efforts

UCLA might end up benefitting from this ruling by a federal judge in Tennessee

UCLA is no slouch when it comes to NIL, but they're not considered a big player in the space either. According to UCLA's student newspaper the Daily Bruin, the official NIL collective of UCLA's "Men of Westwood" has surpassed the seven-figure threshold in terms of total donations. 

But for context, some individual college athletes' NIL valuations (according to On3) are at least comparable to the totality of Men of Westwood's reported valuation.

Yesterday, a federal judge in Tennessee ruled that the NCAA's rules around NIL cause unnecessary confusion for student-athletes. On3 reported that Judge Clifton L. Corker granted a preliminary injunction against the NCAA, writing that, “Without the give and take of a free market, student-athletes simply have no knowledge of their true NIL value. It is this suppression of negotiating leverage and the consequential lack of knowledge that harms student-athletes."

This ruling suggests that NIL conversations between UCLA and its recruits can now be had more out in the open than previously thought. So, where does that leave the power of NIL in Westwood? 

Now that the NCAA can't enforce its rules around NIL, schools may opt to have those NIL conversations directly with recruits rather than deferring to the collectives. This ruling also gives collectives, who are separate entities from the schools themselves, a green light to have those same conversations. 

So the question now is, will UCLA opt to bring everything in-house? Or will they continue to defer to collectives for their NIL strategy? Regardless of which route UCLA chooses, they're fighting an uphill battle. With a brand new head coach DeShaun Foster leading his team into a more competitive Big-10 conference in 2024, UCLA would do well to sort out its NIL approach to this new ruling.

Because of this injunction, the NCAA will now either need to take the case to trial or settle out of court if they wish to enforce their NIL rules. 

In related news, the NCAA just banned photoshoots on unofficial recruiting visits and told the schools that they can no longer decorate the recruit's hotel rooms they stay in during their visits.