Ili & Mirer v. NCAA, Power Four Conferences, et al.

Berger Montague represents Division I college football and men’s basketball players challenging a coordinated agreement among the NCAA, the “Power Four” athletic conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, and SEC), the College Sports Commission, and the leaders of these organizations, to impose NIL compensation restrictions in states whose laws explicitly forbid such limits—suppressing athletes’ NIL earnings below what a competitive market would produce.

Two NCAA Division I collegiate football players, Talanoa Ili and Charlie Mirer, filed the class action suit on behalf of Division I men’s football and basketball players in those states.

“I’m one of many athletes who saw an amazing NIL opportunity disappear after the NCAA and Power Four conferences announced they would implement NIL rules limiting my ability to benefit from my own NIL rights,” said USC freshman Talanoa Ili. “These powerful bodies and people conspired against me and other athletes like me even though California state law protects my NIL rights.”

The suit alleges that Defendants agreed and jointly acted to implement two restrictions on the NIL compensation of Division I basketball and football athletes even though the laws of seventeen states (“NIL Rights States”) prohibit the implementation of such restrictions. Plaintiffs claim that the challenged conduct violates federal and California antitrust laws, and other California state laws.

In 2025, the Northern District of California approved a landmark settlement in In re College Athlete NIL Litigation that, for the first time, permitted Division I schools to pay athletes directly for their name, image, and likeness (NIL) rights, subject to an annual cap. The Court was explicit: the settlement did not preempt state NIL laws.

California pioneered state NIL rights in 2019 with the Fair Pay to Play Act, which prohibits athletic associations—including the NCAA—from restricting or penalizing athletes who earn NIL compensation. Sixteen other states have since enacted similar protections (together, the “NIL Rights States”).

Despite the Court’s express reservation and their own public admissions that federal legislation would be needed to override state law, the NCAA, Power Four conferences, and the newly created College Sports Commission (CSC) chose to impose the NIL cap and associated restrictions uniformly across all states—including the NIL Rights States—as if those protections did not exist.

Read more:

• Class-action lawsuit filed against NCAA, power conferences and College Sports Commission over House settlement, Yahoo Sports (June 9, 2026). Read more here.
• A new lawsuit could change how much colleges can pay athletes, USA Today (June 9, 2026). Read more here.
• Division I Men’s Football and Basketball Players Filed a Class Action Against Sports Governing Bodies and Athletic Conferences for Conspiring to Restrict Their Ability to Monetize their Name, Image, and Likeness Rights: Class Action Lawsuit Charges the NCAA, Power Four Athletic Conferences, the College Sports Commission, and Their Leaders with Conspiring in Violation of Federal and California Antitrust Law, Berger Montague (June 9th, 2026). Read more here.

Berger Montague is one of the nation’s preeminent law firms focusing on complex civil litigation, class actions, and mass torts in federal and state courts throughout the United States. With more than $2.4 billion in 2025 post-trial judgments alone, the Firm is a leader in complex litigation, antitrust, consumer protection, defective products, environmental law, employment law, securities, and whistleblower cases, among many other practice areas. For over 55 years, Berger Montague has played a leading role in precedent-setting cases and has recovered over $50 billion for its clients and the classes it has represented. Berger Montague is headquartered in Philadelphia and has offices in Chicago; Malvern, PA; Minneapolis; San Diego; San Francisco; Toronto, Canada; Washington, DC, and Wilmington, DE.