NCAA Wants to Dismiss Reggie Bush NIL Lawsuit, Says Bush is Too Late

The NCAA says Reggie Bush is nearly 20 years too late in his NIL lawsuit.

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is trying to get a recent lawsuit filed by Reggie Bush in September dismissed on the grounds of it being too late.

In September, Bush - who won the Heisman Award in 2005 after one of the best seasons for a running back in the history of the sport - filed a lawsuit against not only the NCAA but also against both USC and the Pac 12 for 'misappropriation of his Name, Image, and Likeness' for monetary gain. Notoriously, Bush was stripped of his Heisman in 2010 after he was found to have committed violations of rules at the time of his Trojans career that in today's day and age of college football would be seen as not against any kind of rules.

In stripping away his Heisman, the NCAA alleged that he received impermissible benefits during his time at USC when he helped the Trojans win two national titles.

The original lawsuit from Bush alleges that all three entities benefitted from Bush's name through merchandise sales, television contracts, and media rights. But the NCAA is arguing for dismissal by saying that Bush is too late to file any sort of monetary dispute and that any sort of suit should have been filed in the decade and a half since losing his Heisman rather than just right now.

"Any such claims accrued no later than 2005, meaning that his suit comes at least a decade and a half too late," NCAA lawyers argued in their dismissal plea per a story from CBS News. "And while (Bush) gestures at several exceptions to the statutes of limitations, he offers no well-pleaded allegations showing a plausible entitlement to any of them."

The attorneys went on to argue that even if the case was not damaged by the time factor, the facts do not grant him a chance at winning due to his violations being in the rules at the time.

"And while Bush received the accolades, defendants NCAA, USC, and the Pac-12 Conference received all the money," Bush's lawsuit states. "Millions upon millions of dollars of money, all derived directly from Reggie Bush's name, image and likeness. To this day, all defendants continue to profit from Reggie Bush's name, image, and likeness without compensating Bush one penny."

In 2005, Bush had over 2,000 all-purpose yards and 18 touchdowns, falling just short of a third consecutive title in the national title game against Texas in what was considered to be one of the greatest college football games in history.