The NCAA can hardly catch a breath. After recently losing a significant court battle against a college football player with gambling addiction, the association is faced with another legal action from USC Trojans freshman linebacker Talanoa Ili. The lawsuit was against the NCAA’s restrictions on players’ NIL deals through the College Sports Commission (CSC).

In a suit filed on Tuesday by Ili in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California, the NCAA, the Power Four conferences, and the College Sports Commission were accused of their involvement in a “conspiracy” through the establishment of regulations that have  “direct anti-competitive effects, including the suppression of [name, image and likeness] compensation below competitive levels.” The aim is to upend the new NIL system that induced the use of direct payment from universities to athletes.

The new system was launched in 2025 after the House settlement approval was created to vet third-party NIL deals worth more than $2,500 — an upgrade on the initial $600. The aim of the clearing house was to prevent more cases of booster-funded NIL deals, where payments were made directly from donors to the program.

The plaintiffs argue that the system has done more harm than good, bringing about more restrictions than most programs and athletes expected. As a result, in the 88-page suit, the plaintiffs requested a suspension of the operations of the NIL Go clearinghouse.

With Ili, it was noted that his commitment to the USC Trojans was rewarded with a “substantial multi-year offer” from USC’s House of Victory collective in 2024. However, the offer was abolished after approval of the House settlement. In the case where the NIL restriction on direct pay NIL compensation was non-existent, Ili would have received more compensation for his NIL rights.

Per Yahoo Sports, the attorneys stated: “Those policies, their attorneys argue, violate state laws in California that prohibit restrictions on NIL rights, as well as federal antitrust statutes. They’re seeking monetary damages, as well as an injunction that would upend the enforcement structure created to determine whether individual NIL deals over $2,500 meet criteria, including whether they have ‘a valid business purpose’ or fall within a reasonable range of market value”.

As of last month, according to Yahoo Sports, there have been rejections and ongoing reviews of more than $125 million worth of NIL compensation that was promised to athletes by the clearinghouse.

NCAA to meet Jeffrey Kessler again

After helping Brendan Sorsby win his legal battle against the NCAA, Jeffrey Kessler has been brought in again. This time, as a part of the plaintiffs in the House settlement, which created the CSC. In a twist, the system is also being challenged by these plaintiffs. Per Yahoo, plaintiff attorney Jeffrey Kessler “will argue in a hearing that school-affiliated businesses such as multimedia rights holders or corporate sponsors, should not be subject to the CSC’s rigorous criteria for NIL deals”.

Kessler even addressed the controversy around CSC and the delayed payments.

“It is infinitely better than before the House settlement,” Kessler said. “So, let’s get some perspective here. The student-athletes are going to get more than a billion dollars this year, just from the individual school [revenue-share] payments, and will probably get a billion dollars more from NIL payments. Before this, it was a wasteland for the student athlete. So, it is fantastic right now.”

The implementation of the new process is where there have been major flaws. While the latest numbers released on the “NIL Deal Flow Report” show that a total of 21,025 reports have been approved via the NIL go platform, it was deals surrounding “associated entities” that had proven to be tricky.

Ili is not alone in this. Stanford quarterback Charlie Mirer was a part of the lawsuit as well. Mirer also complained of being on the receiving end of the settlement. He mentioned that he has yet to receive any NIL compensation from Stanford’s collective or revenue-sharing money from the program since 2024.