Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced Thursday the Department of Justice (DOJ), three states, and the District of Columbia all joined his antitrust lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) Transfer Eligibility Rule this week.
The NCAA’s Transfer Eligibility Rule requires Division I athletes who transfer a second time to wait one year to compete.
Yost’s 39-page lawsuit, filed on December 7, 2023, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia, challenges the NCAA’s rule, claiming it violates antitrust laws and is an “illegal restraint on college athletes’ ability to sell their image and likeness and control their education.”
The states of Minnesota, Mississippi, and Virginia signed on to the lawsuit this week, bringing the total number of attorneys general who support the litigation to 11.
Yost’s office notes that the case is believed to be the first time in history that the DOJ has signed on to a state-led antitrust lawsuit.
“There is strength in numbers,” Yost said in a statement. “This case would never have come to pass had many players not been sidelined by the NCAA’s arbitrary and unfair rule. We’re fighting for better competition and long-term change.”
Shortly after filing the lawsuit, a federal judge granted Yost and the NCAA’s joint request to extend an order granted two days prior prohibiting the NCAA from enforcing its Transfer Eligibility Rule until at least the end of this academic year.
A trial date has yet to be scheduled in the case.
“It’s time to recognize college sports have become big, big business and it needs to be treated that way under the same kind of laws, same competition requirements that other businesses have to live by,” Yost added.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
