The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit on Nov. 6 reversed and vacated a preliminary injunction that had given a class of Division I athletes a fifth season of eligibility, ruling in a published opinion that their proposed labor market, all of Division I athletics in the United States, lacks evidentiary support. In Providence, two basketball players seeking the same relief have motions for a preliminary injunction on the federal docket, and the public listing shows no ruling on them through Nov. 6.
Judge McHugh wrote for a panel that also included Judges Kelly and Moritz in Wisne v. NCAA, an appeal from the District of Colorado. The court wrote that individual athletic programs, not all Division I universities, are the employers for purposes of defining a market, and that athletes do not see all of them as reasonably good substitutes. A football player, the opinion says, would not treat the 101 Division I schools without football as substitutes. The court said the market question was dispositive and did not reach other issues the district court decided, including anticompetitive effect. The NCAA had obtained a stay of the injunction pending appeal, and the court expedited the appeal because the 2026-27 season is under way for some sports. The opinion does not mention the Rhode Island cases.
Derek Simpson and Joseph Pinion, who are enrolled at Providence College and want to play for its men's basketball team this season, sued the NCAA in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island on Oct. 8. Simpson played at Rutgers and Saint Joseph's. Pinion played at Arkansas, Arkansas State and South Florida. On Oct. 22, U.S. District Judge Melissa R. DuBose denied their requests for temporary restraining orders in an amended memorandum and order. She wrote that the antitrust claim lacked evidence defining a market and that, in her view, both players belong to the class certified July 31 in Wisne.
DuBose declined to pause the Rhode Island cases but wrote that the court "may revisit this decision" once the Tenth Circuit ruled. The docket shows no order from DuBose since the Tenth Circuit ruling as of Nov. 6.
The players' attorneys filed motions for preliminary injunctions in both cases on Oct. 29, the dockets for Simpson and Pinion show. A notice of hearing on a motion was entered Nov. 3, and a response to a motion was filed Nov. 6. The public docket listing does not show the hearing date or the text of those entries.
