{"id":354396,"date":"2026-06-10T08:16:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T08:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/354396\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T08:16:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T08:16:12","slug":"usc-freshman-linebacker-talanoa-ili-joins-lawsuit-seeking-to-upend-new-nil-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/354396\/","title":{"rendered":"USC freshman linebacker Talanoa Ili joins lawsuit seeking to upend new NIL system"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The first serious legal challenge to the House settlement will come courtesy of a USC<\/a> freshman linebacker.<\/p>\n

Talanoa Ili, a top-100 recruit in the Trojans\u2019 vaunted 2026 class, joins Stanford quarterback Charlie Mirer as one of two lead plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit that takes aim at the system implemented since the settlement ushered in a new era of direct payment from universities to athletes. The suit, which was filed Tuesday, accuses the NCAA, the Power Four conferences and the enforcement arm they created \u2014 the College Sports Commission<\/a> \u2014 of participating in a \u201cconspiracy\u201d by creating a system of policies that have \u201cdirect anti-competitive effects, including the suppression of [name, image and likeness] compensation below competitive levels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those policies, their attorneys argue, violate state laws in California that prohibit restrictions on NIL rights, as well as federal antitrust statutes. They\u2019re seeking monetary damages, as well as an injunction that would upend the enforcement structure created to determine whether individual NIL deals over $2,500 meet criteria, including whether they have \u201ca valid business purpose\u201d or fall within a reasonable range of market value.<\/p>\n

The clearinghouse, NIL Go, was created with the hope of eliminating an influx of booster-funded NIL deals that were basically direct payments from donors to the program. But since its inception, the system has been more restrictive and worked less efficiently than some schools and athletes might have hoped. As of last month, according to Yahoo Sports, more than $125 million worth of NIL compensation that had been promised to athletes had been rejected by the clearinghouse or was still under review.<\/p>\n

In Ili\u2019s case, the complaint states that he received a \u201csubstantial multi-year offer\u201d from USC\u2019s House of Victory collective in 2024 that led him to commit to the Trojans, only to have the offer disappear after approval of the House settlement.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsent the NIL Restrictions on Direct Pay NIL Compensation, Ili would have received more for his NIL rights than he now receives,\u201d the complaint states. \u201cThe Agreement has thus injured Ili.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mirer, meanwhile, claims that he has received no NIL compensation from Stanford\u2019s collective or revenue-sharing money from the university since 2024 as a result of the settlement.<\/p>\n

\"Stanford <\/p>\n

Stanford quarterback Charlie Mirer during a game last season.<\/p>\n

(Godofredo A. V\u00e1squez \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe [CSC agreement] has suppressed, deterred, and effectively terminated the economic relationships that had produced his prior NIL compensation,\u201d the lawsuit says.<\/p>\n

Even the plaintiffs in the House settlement, which created the CSC, are in the process of challenging the current system. On Wednesday, plaintiff attorney Jeffrey Kessler will argue in a hearing that school-affiliated businesses such as multimedia rights holders or corporate sponsors, should not be subject to the CSC\u2019s rigorous criteria for NIL deals. That decision could also open the floodgates, with schools using those entities to circumvent the cap.<\/p>\n

Two U.S. senators are hoping to pass legislation they believe would bring more stability to college athletics and thwart legal challenges. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Texas) spoke with presidents and chancellors from the Big Ten Conference on Tuesday about a bipartisan bill, the Protect College Sports Act, which would codify some of the CSC\u2019s policies into federal law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first serious legal challenge to the House settlement will come courtesy of a USC freshman linebacker. Talanoa…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[6948,144482,125387,144480,144481,144477,144478,48,52,51,1846,144483,47,50,49,144479,5409,11936,144476,68,1816],"class_list":["post-354396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-athlete","tag-clearinghouse","tag-csc","tag-direct-payment","tag-first-serious-legal-challenge","tag-house-settlement","tag-individual-nil-deal","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-lawsuit","tag-lead-plaintiff","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-nil-compensation","tag-policy","tag-system","tag-talanoa-ili","tag-tuesday","tag-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}