In Alston v. NCAA, the US Supreme Court held that athletic conferences such as the SEC and Big Ten may enforce “whatever limits or prohibitions the conference chooses.” The SEC now seeks to enforce that ruling against LSU, citing a “complete lack of institutional control over LSU’s athletic programs,” LSU’s continued defiance of conference rules, and other concerns.

The obstacle is the state-court injunction in Pyburn v. NCAA. It prevents the SEC from enforcing certain rules or penalizing LSU for conduct involving former professional players who return to play a sport at LSU and more.

Recent filings show that the dispute continues. LSU moved to dismiss the SEC’s federal case on several grounds. It argued that it did not place the two former NFL players on its fall football roster and that “no one is forcing the SEC to associate with LSU,” and the SEC “possesses the power to unilaterally terminate LSU’s conference membership.”  

The SEC responded that LSU (though not formally a party because only its governing officials were sued) worked with the former players to obtain the state-court injunction. It also argued that “[d]efendants have offered no proof at all about their future conduct.”

The next step:  The Alabama federal court must now decide whether to dismiss the case.

The spate of college sports litigation can be overwhelming. Jones Walker's Sports and Entertainment Industry Team is available to decipher the status of the rules governing college sports.