Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia suing NCAA over eligibility rules - ESPN

Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia sued the NCAA in federal court Friday, alleging the organization's bylaws that reduce the number of seasons junior college players can compete at Division I schools are unlawful and restrict players' ability to earn money off their name, image and likeness.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee in Nashville, requests an injunction that would prevent the NCAA from enforcing its bylaws regarding junior college player limits and grant Pavia two more seasons of eligibility.

«The JUCO Eligibility Limitation Bylaws neither promote competition nor benefit college athletes with respect to their impact on persons who attend junior colleges before transferring to NCAA schools,» the lawsuit says. «These rules stifle the competition in the labor market for NCAA Division I football players, harming college athletes and degrading the quality of Division I football consumed by the public.

»These harms are contrary to Defendant's stated mission of promoting the well-being of college athletes and are the very ills federal antitrust law seeks to remedy. Pavia, and other former JUCO football players who are harmed by this illegal restraint, have a small window of time to compete in Division I football."

The lawsuit argues that the NCAA and its member institutions «have entered an illegal agreement to restrain and suppress competition» and are violating the federal Sherman Act.

The lawsuit says junior college transfers face eligibility restrictions that «are not placed on athletes who choose to delay entry to a Division I NCAA college to attend prep school, serve in the military, or even to compete professionally in another sport.»

Pavia, from Albuquerque, New