Associate Professor, @BoiseStateCOBE. Ex-lawyer who now writes about college sports law, and finds it neat. I track litigation involving college sports.
Boise, ID
Joined May 2017
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New uNILateral Decisions: @mwalsh88, @Joe_Nickell, and I discuss Ohio governor Mike DeWine's executive order granting all Ohio Class of 2022 athletes immediate eligibility.
Can he do that? Should other governors do the same?
youtube.com/watch?v=JAz2a5q8…
This week's uNILateral Decisions: @mwalsh88, @Joe_Nickell, and I sat down with @gregchickphd of @NILnomics to dig into some of the biggest economic and financial questions in college sports.
This was a great episode. Thanks so much to Greg for joining us! youtube.com/watch?v=2i53lygj…
Sam C. Ehrlich retweeted
Patterson is a big one in the world of eligibility cases- potentially billions (with a B) of dollars at stake.
Trial is set for over 2 years away, but there’s not the same urgency as in most other eligibility cases.
That’s because Patterson is no longer seeking extra seasons for the plaintiffs, it now seeks only damages. In other words, the money athletes claim they lost out on because they were denied additional seasons under NCAA rules.
Patterson is a class action for potentially thousands of athletes who played from 2020 onward, so IF (big if) the case actually makes it to trial and the athletes win, the award could be enormous.
Sam C. Ehrlich retweeted
To give people an idea how long these cases last before the actual trial, last night the attorneys in Patterson (athletes v. NCAA/P4 conf) submitted a briefing schedule for discovery and a proposed trial date. That trial date…not expected until February 2029 (yes, ‘29).
An eye-raising new lawsuit filed this evening: two former and one current NCAA Division III athletes filed suit against the NCAA over Division III rules barring athletic scholarship, claiming that the restriction amounts to illegal price fixing under antitrust law.
Sam C. Ehrlich retweeted
Breaking news: Robbie Avila has been granted a temporary restraining order to play college basketball and the ruling also allows SLU to roster him. However, he must appear in court on Nov. 4 for a hearing on his motion for a preliminary injunction.
Sam C. Ehrlich retweeted
Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders unionize, will begin collective bargaining dallasnews.com/sports/cowboy… via @dallasnews
Sam C. Ehrlich retweeted
Folks said this was impossible. They're 1099s and can be replaced. Turns out the skeptics were wrong here, just like they're wrong about collective bargaining in college sports.
Congratulations, DCC!
Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders unionize, will begin collective bargaining dallasnews.com/sports/cowboy… via @dallasnews
Sam C. Ehrlich retweeted
If you're wondering how litigation between the SEC and LSU officials is going...A recent LSU filing said the SEC negligently supplied/hallucinated citations. SEC just filed something back saying those charges are "baseless, inflammatory, and wholly improper."
So not cooling off?
Reading through the Pinioin/Simpson decision, the federal judge was quite a bit more deferential to the NCAA's role as a rulemaking body for college sports than most courts have been.
Bad luck for those two players, and for Providence.
A Message From AD Steve Napolillo
ALT Earlier this week, legal counsel for Joseph Pinion and Derek Simpson presented arguments before the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island in support of a temporary restraining order that would permit Joseph and Derek to compete for Providence College during the 2026–2027 men’s basketball season. Providence College Athletics is deeply disappointed by today’s ruling. We believe Joseph and Derek’s case is compelling and is supported by decisions issued in other states where Big East member institutions compete. It is important to note that Joseph and Derek are the only men’s basketball Big East student-athletes who sought temporary restraining orders and did not receive their TRO at their initial ruling. After consulting with their legal counsel, Joseph and Derek are proceeding with the next steps in the legal process, including seeking a preliminary injunction. As that process continues, Providence College remains fully supportive of these two student-athletes.
Along these lines, I noticed that this court echoed Kentucky in comparing the rules to legislation instead of a contract, finding the NCAA's reference to "Rhode Island law’s 'well-settled principle' that statutes are implemented prospectively, not retroactively" persuasive.
Sam C. Ehrlich retweeted
They’re going to use this to lock the ACC and Big 12 out of major nonconference games, and then use “weak nonconference” as justification to put 18 Big Ten and SEC teams into the 24-team playoff.
Fox's Joel Klatt told @dfwticket today that an SEC-B1G scheduling agreement will be announced "almost immediately" once the CFP expands to 24.
footballscoop.com/2026/10/21…
Sam C. Ehrlich retweeted
College sports aren’t immune from the First Amendment. Reporters have every right to stand on a public sidewalk and seek comment from players and coaches. Maryland football’s understanding of the First Amendment is as bad as its run defense, which is saying something.
For @testudotimes, @JudeWilkenfeld and I were outside Jones-Hill House trying to get players to comment. An athletics staffer took pictures of us, and a police dispatch was called for suspicious activity; a cop and 2 cop cars pulled up, and officers ID’d us and asked us to leave.
We recorded before the NCAA's lawsuit against DeWine challenging the order... so this may be something of a two-parter. 😉
Sam C. Ehrlich retweeted
Exclusive: Wealthy backers of the Protect College Sports Act quietly rounded up support from major conservative political figures, a DraftKings executive, university presidents, and conference commissioners.
FOS obtained the emails revealing a network with deep political ties.
Sam C. Ehrlich retweeted
This obviously isn't true, but as usual the strangest part of accounts like this tweeting out clearly false information is the amount of people believing it 100%.
The $10 million minimum investment number is from 2025-26 to 2027-28, by the way. So there's time anyways.
Keeping in tact the more recent trend of judges finding that the status quo is that Class of 2022 athletes are eligible because that's what the bylaws say.
Makes it much, much easier to justify an injunction.
