Diego Pavia files lawsuit against NCAA over eligibility rules, NIL pay
Diego Pavia has filed a lawsuit against the NCAA as he seeks additional collegiate eligibility.
The Vanderbilt quarterback is arguing that the NCAA is violating antitrust laws because it counts junior college seasons toward NCAA eligibility.
Pavia spent the 2020 and 2021 seasons at New Mexico Military Institute before transferring to New Mexico State ahead of the 2022 campaign. Pavia was with NMSU in 2022 and 2023 before transferring to Vanderbilt in 2024.
Here’s a copy of part of Pavia’s lawsuit against the NCAA, which alleges that the rules have caused athletes to miss out on NIL money:
Diego Pavia has sued the NCAA.
He alleges NCAA rules that count juco seasons towards NCAA eligibility & that prohibit redshirts from being used after an athlete has played 4 years at an NCAA school violate antitrust law.
He alleges the rules cause athletes to miss out on NIL $. pic.twitter.com/Oq8kXfPgMo
— Mit Winter (@WinterSportsLaw) November 9, 2024
Here’s an excerpt from the lawsuit:
“In other words, Athletes playing football outside of the NCAA monopoly have no meaningful opportunity to profit off their name, image, or likeness. Even so, JUCO Eligibility Limitation Bylaws restrict the ability of athletes who begin their college football careers in junior colleges from having the same opportunity to profit from NIL as students who enter an NCAA institution as freshmen.
Specifically, the JUCO Eligibility Bylaws limit athletes who begin their college careers at junior colleges to only two or three seasons of NCAA Division I football, as opposed to the four seasons of competition (and NIL Compensation opportunities) available to all other NCAA Division I football players.”
Pavia is seeking a temporary restraining order against the NCAA, which is preventing him from being eligible to play the 2025-26 season given its current set of rules. The lawsuit was filed in Tennessee.
If granted, Pavia would be eligible to play next season for Vanderbilt or any other team. So far in 2024, he’s led Vandy to within 1 win of its best season since the James Franklin era. The Commodores have already clinched a bowl game appearance for the first time since 2018.
Vandy will face South Carolina on Saturday.
Wow – that’s a great argument. Diego is going to win this.
The SEC will have to deal with him another year or two if he manages to stay in place.
He’s a great college player who’s really exciting to watch.
An interesting by-product of this suit (assuming it’s successful) would most definitely be that former Juco players are highly sought after in the portal. Give a decent player another couple of years (on top of red shirts) to mature and grow and you’ll be seeing more 26 year old college players on your team.
The only constant is change.
Iirc BYU has had older college players for years. The guys destined to play football at BYU go on their mission for 2 years after high school and all get sent to places with great gyms and football training opportunities.
It would be fun to get to watch him play one more season :)
NIL isn’t supposed to be a handout. It is to pay you for the value of your Name, Image and Likeness. JUCO players are elegible for NIL but the players have no NIL value. It’s not the NCAA’s fault that the JUCO product cannot be monetized. The madness needs to end.
Freeze and DeBoer won’t be happy about this.
If Diego Pavia is a great QB talent, then it’s a fair question as to why he couldn’t simply go to the NFL. The fact that NIL broke open while he was a player making his way out of juco to bigger programs isn’t the NCAA’s fault. Nothing against him, it just sounds like a real stretch of a case.
Hugh Freeze must be making him an NIL offer right now.
No way Pavia sniffs an NFL contract. His completion percentage is horrendous and he’s not catching any teams by surprise anymore. Vandy may lose its last 3 games to close the season.
Athletes have the ability to earn NIL but they are not obligated to be paid or earn certain amounts. Changing eligibility rules due to arguments of NIL earnings is ridiculous. I hope he loses this case and I’ll no longer be cheering for him this season.
You’re just saying that because you are exhaling he doesn’t have to play Georgia this year. To not root for him because the NCAA is a joke organization and has let it become the wild Wild West is so petty.
I think this should fail because, as others have alluded to, NIL isn’t pay for play. But I expect the NCAA to fold like they did with transfer rules, which similarly if NIL isn’t pay for play it shouldn’t matter where or even if you play.
I have read the Complaint filed by Diego Pavia in the US District Court for the Middle District of TN, which, by the way, denied his TRO. This looks like a complete fail.
Pavia argues that the NCAA restricts former JUCO athletes by reducing their eligibility for those years while playing football when they have little opportunity for NIL compensation. The problem is, nothing prevents them from getting a NIL contract in the JUCO ranks. Most don’t because no one cares about JUCO or watches it on TV. This is just a money grab for Pavia who wants to play a 6th season of football because he is not likely to be drafted by any professional team.
Pavia’s prior experience look like this:
Pavia received NO Division I offers.
New Mexico Military Institute–2020 and 2021
Pavia played a shortened 8-game season in 2020 due to c-o-v-i-d, but would have otherwise burned a red shirt if in Division I. Pavia won the NJCAA Championship in 2021. The NCAA has granted an extra year of eligibility due to c-o-v-i-d.
New Mexico State–2022 and 2023. Pavia graduates with Bachelor of Individualized Studies in Biology.
Vanderbilt–2024 as a graduate student.
Thus, Pavia is playing his 5th season of football, which would include the extra c-o-v-i-d year and has burned his NCAA eligibility.
His lawyers essentially argue that he should be entitled to ignore his JUCO playing time and be allowed 4+ years of eligibility at the NCAA level since he had no NIL opportunities as a JUCO athlete. It seems like a ridiculous argument since Pavia wasn’t even on Division I radar until he had won a championship at the JUCO level.